Next year’s national medical exam application rate is 11%… Medical workforce gap expected to be prolonged

It has been reported that a little over 10% of medical students took the practical exam for the national medical licensing exam next year. This is due to a collective boycott by medical students, and it seems that there will be a hitch in producing new doctors next year.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 27th, the number of applicants for the practical exam by the Korea Medical Licensing Examination Institute, which closed its practical exam application process at 6:00 PM on the 26th, was 364. Of the 3,200 or so applicants, including 3,000 fourth-year medical school students, those who failed the exam last year, and graduates of foreign medical schools, only about 11.4% applied. In particular, only 159 medical school students, or 5% of the total, applied.

As medical students demand the government withdraw its plan to increase the number of medical school admissions, they are boycotting classes and even refusing to take the national exam, so the number of doctors to be produced next year is expected to be very small. Unlike previous years when about 3,000 doctors were produced, the supply of new doctors has been cut off.

Because of this, not only will residents who train at large hospitals disappear, but the number of specialists will also be delayed in a chain reaction, raising concerns about a medical workforce shortage. In addition, despite the government’s conciliatory measures, only a small number of residents have returned to training hospitals, and it is highly likely that residents who have resigned will not apply for the second half recruitment that will begin in September, so the medical workforce shortage is expected to be prolonged.