'Philippine and Hungary Medical Schools → Korean Doctors' Detour Route No Longer Works... Acceptance Rate Plummets

National Medical Licensing Exam Pass Rate Stands at 33%

Many people seek foreign medical schools as a detour route to obtain a domestic medical license without graduating from a domestic medical college, but the pass rate of the medical licensing exam among foreign medical school graduates is not high.

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According to data on the "Status of Passing the Medical Licensing Exam for Foreign Medical School Graduates" received by the office of Shin Hyun-young, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 5th, only one-third of foreign medical school graduates obtained a domestic medical license from 2005 to 2023.

There are quite a few foreign medical schools recognized by the Minister of Health and Welfare in Korea, totaling 159 schools in 38 countries, but the process of obtaining a domestic medical license after graduating from a foreign medical school appears to be somewhat complicated, resulting in this outcome.

Foreign medical school graduates must first obtain a medical license in the respective country and then take the domestic national exam administered by the Korea Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute to acquire a domestic medical license.

To take the national exam, they must pass the domestic preliminary medical exam (1st written test and 2nd practical test). However, from 2005 to 2023, the pass rate of foreign medical school graduates recognized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare for the domestic preliminary medical exam was only 55.4%, barely exceeding half.

Even if they passed the preliminary exam, many failed to pass the national exam and ultimately did not receive a license. The rate of foreign medical school graduates who passed all exams and were issued a domestic medical license was only 33.5%. This is very low compared to the overall domestic medical licensing exam pass rates, which were 97.6% in the first half of 2022 and 95.9% in the second half of 2022.

Looking at the final pass rates by country for those who took the medical licensing exam with more than 10 candidates from 2005 to 2023, the United Kingdom had the highest rate at 70.4%, followed by Paraguay (50.0%) and Hungary (47.9%), while the Philippines had the lowest at 6.0%.

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