[EXPLAINER] Korea’s push for ‘regional docs’: Reform or gamble?

Korea’s long-running debate over a scarcity of docs exterior the Seoul metropolitan space is now centering on a brand new coverage concept: a so-called “regional physician system” that will require certified physicians to serve for a number of years in underserved areas and key specialties. Years of incentive funds, pilot initiatives and will increase in medical faculty quotas have to date didn’t ease the scarcity of physicians in emergency rooms, maternity wards and key specialties in smaller cities and rural counties. Well being authorities say a compulsory system is now wanted to keep up — or not less than stabilize — medical providers exterior the capital area. The regional physician system has turn out to be a key a part of President Lee Jae Myung’s well being care plan. Final month, lawmakers handed a legislation that makes the system official and offers the federal government the ability to require docs to work in hospitals and clinics exterior the capital. At its core, the scheme reserves a set share of medical faculty seats for “regional tracks,” during which college students obtain authorities monetary help for tuition, dormitory charges