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A government still detached from reality

Published: 03 Oct. 2024, 20:01

Ahn Hye-ri
The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

At the height of the government’s conflict with doctors in March, I had a chance to talk with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on this matter. I expected him to be more flexible than the presidential office, but I was surprised to find that he was even more stubborn. Moreover, the prime minister seemed to have his ears closed to the voices of the medical community. I was frustrated and felt like this would only aggravate the conflict. My sad premonition has become a reality.

At that time, medical school professors argued that a sudden increase in the number of students over a short period of time would completely destroy the foundation of our medical education. As the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation pointed out, proper medical education would be impossible if the number of freshmen suddenly increased from 3,000 to 5,000 from 2025. If medical professors, who know the best, complain it’s not possible, the government would at least pretend to listen, I thought.

But the prime minister said, “What do medical school professors know about it?” He claimed that the university authorities and presidents who work with the government certainly know university facilities and the capacity they can handle better than medical professors. He added, “The government would work to provide good medical education, but even if the education is not provided, the students who didn’t get proper education won’t pass the national exam, so why do some professors complain and say it’s impossible?”

The prime minister had a similar view on the 10,000 trainee doctors who left their hospitals. The reason for their massive resignations is known to be their opposition to increasing the medical school admissions quota by 2,000 annually over the next five years. But the junior doctors have been protesting more against the “essential medicine policy package” the government announced in February along with the expansion plan, demanding to completely scrap the package. Whether their argument is right or not, their present and future depend on this important issue. They are making the demand after scrutinizing the government policy harder than anyone. But the prime minister nonchalantly said, “As few people around me read our government’s medical reform plan, I am sure the interns and residents must have had no time to read it.” In short, the prime minister deemed medical school professors and interns as the target of reform. He sounded as if the government knows best about the medical issues.

The distorted confidence and armchair argument by high-level government officials have led to poor medical education, as professors had anticipated — and makeshift measures followed.

Far from adding 2,000 new doctors — now adjusted to 1,507 next year — as the government wishes, the usual 3,000 doctors cannot be produced next year because seniors refused to take the national medical exam later this year after taking a leave of absence. The first-year pre-med classes designed to accommodate 3,000 students also should be taken by as many as 7,500 students next year because this year’s freshmen also took a leave of absence. Subpar education is unavoidable.

That’s a big problem that shakes the foundation of our medical system, medical school education and even college admissions. Nevertheless, the Yoon Suk Yeol administration wouldn’t budge. The government can use its signature move: If something doesn’t work, change the rules and insist there’s no problem.

The Ministry of Education steadfastly adhered to its “no-retention” policy for medical students who took a leave of absence in the first semester and didn’t register for the second semester. As the Seoul National University College of Medicine became the first to approve the leave requests among medical schools around the country, the Education Ministry slammed its medical professors for making “a very unjust action ignoring universities’ original responsibility.”

I was puzzled. Is it really unfair for medical professors to approve students’ leave requests after they didn’t attend the required 30 weeks of classes until October? Or is it fair for the ministry to save the students from retention when they pretend to take classes for only three to four months from mid-November? Is it really reasonable to give local hospital doctors qualification to serve as professors to address the shortage of professors in medical schools? This is a regression at its worst. And yet, the government calls it “medical reform.”

Back in March, the prime minister said, “I expected all trainee doctors to leave” if the government announced the plan to increase the admissions quota by 2,000 annually. That means the government was well aware of the problem. But what plans did the government come up with other than sending prosecutors to the Ministry of Health and Welfare just five days after the resignations of the trainee doctors? The government still claims that it did nothing wrong.

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.