I remember when I heard the news about doctors’ collective strike. I cared nothing for the situation because I usually don’t care about political problems. I’ve never known the reason for the strike. But through the article, I did get some details about the situation. At first, I could not understand why the Korean Medical Association (KMA) rejected the public medical school policy. I thought that we could have more opportunities to be treated at a more inexpensive medical cost with the project, which is similar to the reason why the government continues to try to start the project. However, the more I read the article, the more I could understand why KMA took a negative stance. The government's main idea is that the expansion of public medical schools can reduce the medical gap between urban and rural areas and cope with the shortage of doctors in important departments. So, the government wants to increase the number of doctors and force them to work in rural areas. Though, the article tells us the fact that even if the number of doctors per 1,000 people is lower than OECD average, the average number of outpatient service per person is much higher than OECD average. Through the statistics, I could understand that medical access is more important than the number of doctors. In addition, through the article I could get that the reason for the lack of doctors in vital departments is not because of the small number of doctors but because of the shortage of job opportunity.
