The number of foreign doctors practising in South Korea reached 546 in the year to June, up 20.8 per cent in five and a half years from 452 in 2019, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
According to South Korea’s“Chosun Ilbo” reported 10, in these foreign doctors, including 81 general practitioners and 465 specialists. Among foreign specialists, the number of physicians was the largest, at 69. The second is family medicine (58) , obstetrics and gynecology (37) and so on.
Foreign doctors practising in Korea refer to those who have graduated from a foreign medical school accredited by the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Korea and obtained a license to practice medicine in the host country before obtaining a Korean medical license through the national examination of Korea. Currently, the relevant laws of Korea provide three kinds of exceptions that allow foreign doctors to perform medical services without a Korean license, namely, the exchange of professorship tasks under education or technical cooperation, and the educational research tasks, and international medical volunteering.
The report said South Korea could now face a serious shortage of doctors, especially in general hospitals that specialize in treating critically ill patients, as a result of a prolonged strike by doctors and interns. To this end, the Ministry of Health and well-being is considering a new policy that even foreign doctors who have not yet obtained a license from South Korea, should face a“Severe” phase of the health-care crisis, it may also be allowed limited medical services in Korea. These foreign doctors will conduct medical services in designated medical institutions under the guidance of Korean doctors.