A growing number of students are opting to pursue their studies abroad, followed by taking the Korean Medical Licensing Examination as a pathway to fulfilling their dreams of becoming doctors. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Oct. 6 (Korea Bizwire) – Foreign medical schools have garnered increasing attention as an alternative route for aspiring healthcare professionals who may not secure spots at domestic medical institutions.
Gaining admission to a medical school in South Korea is exceedingly competitive, with even the most exceptional students facing no guarantees, regardless of their academic achievements.
Consequently, a growing number of students are opting to pursue their studies abroad, followed by taking the Korean Medical Licensing Examination as a pathway to fulfilling their dreams of becoming doctors.
Nevertheless, graduates of foreign medical schools encounter formidable obstacles in obtaining domestic medical licenses. According to data sourced from the Ministry of Health and Welfare provided to Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Hyun-young, only one-third of graduates from foreign medical schools managed to acquire domestic medical licenses between 2005 and 2023.
As of June 2023, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recognized 159 foreign medical universities in 38 countries. However, even after graduating from these institutions, the arduous procedures required to become medical practitioners in Korea make securing domestic medical licenses a formidable challenge.
Among graduates of foreign medical schools recognized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, only 55.4 percent successfully passed the preliminary medical examination, which consists of both written and practical components, between 2005 and 2023.
Furthermore, even among those who attained eligibility to sit for the national medical licensing examination by passing the preliminary tests, the pass rate for the national examination stood at a meager 33.5 percent.
This figure stands in stark contrast to the national average success rate in the national medical licensing examination, which reached 95.8 percent in 2018, 95.6 percent in 2019, 97 percent in 2020, 86.3 percent in 2021, 97.6 percent in the first half of 2022, and 95.9 percent in the second half of 2022, underscoring the significant disparity.
Conversely, there exists a notable tendency among domestic medical graduates to hold foreign medical graduates in low regard, not considering them as equals.
Despite the relatively high passing rate among international students from Hungarian and Uzbek medical schools, hovering around 80 percent, it is disheartening to observe that Korean doctors frequently label these foreign medical students as “Hungz.”
It is essential to acknowledge Hungary’s exceptional standing in healthcare, exemplified by the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Hungarian-born Katalin Kariko, a 68-year-old professor at the University of Szeged in Hungary, in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to the development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Kariko and Drew Weissman of the U.S. won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that led directly to the first mRNA vaccines to fight COVID-19.
Hungary also shared in the glory of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physics. This illustrates Hungary’s status as a global scientific powerhouse, boasting a remarkable level of advancement in fundamental sciences such as medicine, mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In stark contrast, South Korea has yet to produce a single Nobel Prize laureate in basic sciences.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
