The “doctors strike” in Korea, which refers to doctor resigning caused by the government’s request for increasing the number of medical students, led to a possible delay in the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). 

The government’s suggestion to admit more medical school applicants raised discussions amongst current medical school students and doctors. Initially, the reason behind the proposal was to deal with the current doctor shortage and prepare for a rising demand for healthcare from rapid population aging. 

“It is a tight argument between the government and people in the medical field,” Edward Yoon (11), MEDSOC member, said. “However, even if we have to combat rapid population aging, I do think that the government could have considered the limited resources available at the moment.”

Despite the government’s stance, the current medical school students and doctors disagree because it is difficult to select more doctors as it may lower the quality of the medical system due to lack of resources. Additionally, the application process is purposely made rigorous to pick a small population of students who have potential to be the best future doctors. Therefore, this raises the concern of whether there will be a decrease in the quality of future doctors which will impact Korea’s renowned medical system. 

Another question from the opposing side is, does Korea need more doctors when there is no current issue within the medical system to select more medical school applicants?

“I do think that the medical system that we had before the doctor strike was very well put together,” Kevin Kim (10), STEM field enthusiast, said. “I think this entire process of trying to overcome future conflicts could have been more gradual than sudden.”

It seems that both voices regarding this problem are taken into good consideration by the government, and this issue is being prioritized to be resolved before the CSAT.