[Column] The Justification for Overturning the National Medical Exam is Public Life... Is the Government Qualified?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The government has decided to revise regulations to allow medical students to retake the national medical licensing exam once more in January next year. This decision was made based on the judgment that if the current situation causes disruptions in the supply and demand of medical personnel, there will be a shortage of public health doctors or interns working in medically underserved areas or public medical institutions. The increased fatigue among medical staff due to COVID-19 was also cited as a reason. These factors have accumulated to change public opinion regarding the retake of the medical students' national exam compared to the past. The Ministry of Health and Welfare official who made this statement did not provide separate evidence.

Since last August until now, the tangled issues surrounding the medical students' national exam have become so complicated that it has been difficult for the Ministry of Health and Welfare to make any decision. Senior medical professionals, whose hospital operations have become difficult, pressured the government to come up with a retake plan by any means. On the other hand, the majority of the public responded coldly, saying that those who refused to take the exam should take responsibility. Finding common ground was difficult.

Since the government had so far emphasized principles or public opinion, a de facto decision to allow retakes that overturns this stance would not have been easy. Even so, I believe it is cowardly to justify this by simply stating that "protecting the lives of the people is the government's fundamental duty." If the government truly had the intention to protect public lives, it should have carefully monitored the situation when the public was harmed by the medical community's collective action last August.

Lee Gi-il, Director of the Health and Medical Policy Office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, is answering reporters' questions on the 31st about the implementation plan for the 2021 medical licensing examination.<이미지:Yonhap News>

In August, the government filed charges against residents who did not comply with the work commencement order. The rationale was that since patients were harmed due to residents not working, they should return to their duties. The police also stated they would strictly enforce the law. However, the charges were withdrawn within a week because an agreement was reached with medical organizations. At that time, there were several patients who were unable to receive timely surgery or were presumed to have died due to the residents' strike, but these cases were not considered. The Ministry of Health and Welfare even set up a call center to identify damage caused by the medical community's collective action but merely 'received' reports. Despite having the responsibility and sufficient authority to correct the situation, they turned a blind eye.

Recently, patients have been dying one after another after contracting COVID-19 in group infections within nursing hospitals without receiving proper treatment. Entire hospitals were cohort quarantined, and doctors diagnosed patients despite being confirmed positive themselves, while nurses who collapsed from overwork had to care for patients again as soon as they recovered. The Ministry of Health and Welfare repeatedly stated that cohort quarantine was a measure based on epidemiological judgment by local governments and quarantine authorities. Only after numerous lives were lost did they hastily form teams to visit the field. Until then, they had no intention of going to the front lines.

Even though patients were hospitalized with insufficient equipment and medical staff, the government did not consider transferring them to hospitals capable of intensive care, insisting that nursing hospitals are also medical institutions. They pressured private hospitals to secure more bed capacity, but these were not beds for intensive care patients from nursing hospitals. If the government truly values the lives of its people and prioritizes reducing casualties in the process of responding to COVID-19, it should demonstrate this through actions, not words. That is why they were given money and authority.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.