Eun Sung injured her right thumb in a fall in March and needed surgery to repair a torn ligament. But scheduling one has been difficult even though she lives in one of the most developed nations in the world, South Korea.
“It was very difficult to get an appointment and I was told that the first available operation would be next January,” said Ms. Sung, an office worker in Seoul, the capital. The only consolation, she said, was that she didn’t need urgent surgery.
For more than two months, South Korea’s healthcare system has been in disarray as thousands of doctors left their jobs after the government proposed dramatically increasing medical school admissions. While disruptions have not yet reached critical levels, thousands of operations and treatments have been delayed or cancelled, nurses have had to take on more responsibilities, and military hospitals have been opened to civilians. Several major hospitals plan to suspend outpatient clinics this week.
The prolonged stalemate shows no signs of resolution. But one thing has changed: public opinion has turned against President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government. Most respondents in a recent survey said the government should negotiate with doctors to reach a deal quickly or withdraw its proposal.
“When the protests started, I couldn’t really feel it,” said Lee Seung-ku, a university student in Seoul, adding: “I don’t have anyone around me who frequents the hospital.” But as the strike dragged on, he said he heard about acquaintances struggling to get care and felt the government was not acting quickly enough to reach an agreement with doctors.
For weeks neither side budged.
The chaos was sparked by a government plan to address a long-standing shortage of doctors in South Korea by enrolling more students in medical schools: about 2,000, or 65 percent, more each year. It would be the first tuition increase in nearly two decades. For officials, the proposal filled a critical need for the country’s rapidly aging population. But doctors argued that the government continued to ignore systemic issues such as unequal compensation that make essential services like emergency care unattractive career options.
At first, most citizens supported Mr. Yoon’s hardline stance, which helped boost his popularity ahead of the crucial parliamentary elections. Some observers believed the deadlock would end soon after the April 9 vote. But the election results left Mr. Yoon on the verge of becoming an outgoing duck, and soon after, his approval rating fell to the lowest level of his presidency.
About two weeks ago, the government made its first concession, saying that medical schools would have some freedom in deciding their admission fees for the school year starting in March 2025. In fact, authorities were offering to reduce their original proposal for add 2,000 places for medical schools by up to 50 percent for the next school year for 32 medical schools.
“They are trying to fix the situation, but it is not working in their favor,” said Mr. Lee, the college student. “The measures they are taking now are the ones they should have already been taking in the first place.”
The impasse persists. More than 10,000 residents and interns, who are key to the operation of large hospitals and were the first to retire, remain out of work. Last week, medical school professors, who are often senior doctors in hospitals, joined protests in solidarity but continue to work reduced hours.
South Korea has long prided itself on its affordable healthcare system, but many doctors say they feel overwhelmed by long work hours coupled with low salaries. The system, they add, rewards specializations such as dermatology that are not essential for the daily health of most people.
Emergency doctors have long complained that they are overwhelmed by patients with minor injuries or illnesses, saying they absorb already limited resources. That tension seemed to have intensified during the doctors’ strike. Local media initially attributed at least two deaths in emergency care to the strike, but the Health Ministry said they were not caused by shortages caused by the strike.
At the same time, some patients (presumably with minor problems) are staying home.
“Ironically, the number of patients has decreased in some hospitals,” said Seo Yeonjoo, a doctor in the emergency department at St. Vincent’s Hospital on the outskirts of Seoul, referring to people seeking urgent care.
Some with more serious illnesses also avoid hospitals.
Samuel Kim, who attends nursing school at Kyungpook National University in the city of Daegu, has postponed his own hospital visits for checkups on his arrhythmia. He said he feels social pressure that prevents him from visiting hospitals at a time when many of them are struggling due to the doctors’ strike.
Kim acknowledged the grueling hours some doctors work, conditions she said she had witnessed firsthand as a nursing student. Still, he believes doctors should reach an agreement with the government and go back to work.
“There are also strikes in other industries, such as bus drivers,” Mr. Kim said, “but in the case of doctors, people’s lives are at stake.”