Faith in hospitals and surgeons is particularly low due in large part to suspicions-based on cases that have made the news-of unqualified staff mishandling operations. Patients in South Korea have the lowest perception of their own health status of all OECD countries, and a 2016 study found that, unlike in many other countries, the public is most concerned with the quality of the health care system more so than access or cost. That’s 14.7 times higher than the number of similar indictments in Japan, 580.6 times higher than in the UK, and 26.6 times higher than in Germany.īut complaints about malpractice are not completely unfounded.
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Is medical malpractice a major issue in South Korea?Ī November study from the Korea Medical Association released in November showed that some 750 South Korean doctors yearly-or an average of more than two per day-are criminally charged with professional negligence resulting in death or injury. South Korea boasts a nearly $4 billion plastic surgery industry that takes up 25% of the global market share, owing in large part to the beauty standards promoted by the country’s popular and far-reaching entertainment businesses. Kim, the University of Hong Kong scholar, says that’s because aspiring medical professionals are more enticed to train in fields like cosmetic surgery, for which fees are less strictly regulated and typically much higher than they are for physicians. The issue is that many of them are not specializing in vital care. This is despite the fact that doctors earn four times the average salary of other professionals in South Korea. Doctors opposing a hike have argued that the real problem is low pay and weak infrastructure in rural areas where healthcare roles are most deprived.
Doctors who prefer the exclusivity of the profession and the government that wants there to be more doctors are repeatedly at odds over reforming the quota-so much so that in August 2020, doctors in training staged a walkout amid a proposed increase of the admission cap.
The supply problem starts early, at the university level: since 2006, the government has had an annual admission limit of 3,058 students for 40 medical schools in the country.
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