The Association of Public Health Doctors: "Medical Students Enlisting One After Another... A Real Medical Vacuum Will Come"

"70.5% of Medical Students Respond They Plan to Serve Active Duty"

Public health doctors warned that if medical students continue to enlist for active duty, public health doctors and military medical officers will disappear, leading to a real medical vacuum.

Darkened examination room at Iyang Health Center, Hwasun-gun, Jeollanam-do. Photo by Yonhap News

The Korean Association of Public Health Doctors (Public Health Doctors Association) stated in an appeal on the 10th, "The number of medical students enlisted for active duty exceeded 1,000 in August, and in a survey conducted last July targeting 2,469 medical students, 70.5% responded that they plan to serve active duty."

They added, "There will no longer be any public health doctors in the Republic of Korea, and once the enlistment of residents begins, there will be no military medical resources," and claimed, "This is not a medical vacuum created for political or electoral purposes, but a real 'genuine medical vacuum' that will come."

According to the Ministry of Education, as of the end of September, 1,059 students from 37 medical schools nationwide have been granted military leave of absence. The number of medical students on military leave was only in the hundreds in 2021 (116), 2022 (138), and last year (162), but surged this year. Most appear to have refused classes in protest against the increase in medical school admissions and chose active duty service.

The Public Health Doctors Association said, "Now we want to protect public health doctors. The oppressive president’s medical reform that singled out residents for 'punishment' no longer exists," urging the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Education, "This is the last moment to reverse the situation. Make a decisive decision."

The decision they refer to is interpreted as the suspension of medical school admissions for next year.

Additionally, the public health doctors expressed that even before the declaration of martial law, young public health doctors were treated like martial law troops by the government. The association stated, "Public health doctors were immediately deployed to the field after receiving only one or two days of training without any legal protection or work guidelines, under the condition that they could work up to 80 hours per week," adding, "Moreover, their allowances were unpaid for a long period."