Photo: The South Korean medical community criticized the government for not allocating medical resources fairly. \AFP

[Ta Kung Pao News]According to reports from The Korea Herald and JoongAng Ilbo: South Korea does have a shortage of doctors, but doctors’ organizations believe that the government does not have a proper training and allocation plan, and even if medical schools expand enrollment, it will not solve the current situation of uneven distribution of medical resources. Korean media pointed out that plastic surgery and dermatology are “high-return” fields and have become popular for students to apply for, while obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, etc., which are only retained by large public general hospitals, have lower salaries and are neglected.

In South Korea, it takes at least 13 years to go from a medical student to a specialist, including 2 years of general education, 4 years of medical education, 1 year of internship after passing the medical license exam, 4 years of residency, and 2 years of specialist training. Interns and residents work an average of 93 hours a week, but their monthly income is only 3.5 million to 4 million won (about 20,000 to 24,000 Hong Kong dollars). Korean media previously disclosed that the market demand for the medical beauty industry is huge, and it is often not paid for by medical insurance. The price is more “market-oriented”. Even if you do not have a specialist qualification, you can still earn tens of millions of won a month, which is not much different from professional obstetricians and gynecologists who need to receive 4 to 5 more years of training.

The Korean medical community pointed out that this has led many doctors to choose to work in dermatology, beauty and plastic surgery, or to open private clinics to make money, rather than saving lives and healing the wounded in public hospitals that are more in need of manpower. Interns in unpopular departments such as pediatrics who participated in the strike complained that politicians were forcibly pushing forward the expansion policy without considering the real needs of the medical system.

Kim Ki-eun, a professor at Korea University, believes that what doctors are really worried about is that competition will become more intense after the expansion, and their income and social status will decrease.