Time for fundamental, not stopgap, measures

Stopgap actions cannot resolve the ongoing medical crisis.

Education Ministry allowed universities to place medical students boycotting their classes to protest the admissions quota hike in a new “incomplete credit” category instead of failing them for missing classes in the first semester. The move was meant to allow those students to move onto the next academic year regardless of their defiance of classes. This could offer life-saving relief for medical students who can flunk a year with just one “F” in a mandatory class. But the rescue measure will be useless if students don’t return to schools after summer break.

If their boycott continues, the standard of classes can seriously deteriorate. Next year, as many as 8,500 students — 3,500 suspended this year and 5,000 to be accepted next year under the increased quota — will have to be crammed into a regular class for a first-year course. Normal class management and training will not be possible.

The government has pressed onward with the quota increase to fix our seriously distorted medical system. But the essence of the reform is to have university hospitals focus on the critically-ill, emergency patients and those with rare diseases, while letting community hospitals and clinics deal with general patients.

To appease striking students and junior doctors, the government has been mostly taking makeshift measures — such as an increased medical insurance coverage rate for deliveries and infant treatment, emergency and late-hour treatments and surgeries. They can offer some relief, but cannot be fundamental solutions. University and general hospitals should be able to survive without competing with neighborhood hospitals for patients with less serious diseases. The medical insurance coverage system must be entirely redesigned to reward care according to the complexities of treatment and investments.

The government also must invest in advancing mid-level hospitals and the public medical service system. Such care is hard to find outside the capital region. Without filling that void, the government cannot live up to the promise of building the medical care system in regional areas. The government must also fix the problematic indemnity insurance system which has funneled primary-care doctors to non-covered medical services. The Financial Services Commission and the Health and Welfare Ministry must cooperate to find an effective solution to ease excessive medical care due to the popular indemnity insurance.

The government dismissed doctors’ claim that an excess of doctors can further damage the national health insurance’s finance. The national health insurance has about 10 trillion won ($7.2 billion) in its reserves. But how long they can be sustained is questionable. Stopgap actions cannot resolve the ongoing medical crisis.