341 applications for 3,500 open positions: South Korea faces biggest dip in recruitment of resident doctors

South Korea is already facing a shortage of medical practitioners and the staggering drop in recruitment has added fuel to the fire. The development also comes at a time when the medical fraternity is at odds with the Yoon administration’s now-aborted martial law that ordered all doctors to return to duty South Korean doctors march to protest against the government medical policy in front of the Presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. Martial law angers doctors South Korea is already facing a shortage of medical practitioners and the staggering drop in recruitment has added fuel to the fire. The development also comes at a time when the medical fraternity is at odds with the Yoon administration’s now-aborted martial law that ordered all doctors, irrespective of their strikes and employment, to return to duty. Doctors’ strike South Korea witnessed a healthcare crisis in February after 9,000 resident and intern doctors, or about 70 per cent of the country’s total, walked off their jobs leading to the cancellation of some surgeries and treatments and straining emergency departments.