Hospitals in South Korea anticipate fewer interns next year as more than two-thirds of medical students refused to take the licensing examinations in protest of the administration’s new health care policies. 

As the novel coronavirus is expected to persist, this shortage may prove a blow to the country’s pandemic response, experts worry.

Yet another meeting between the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Medical Association fell through Tuesday, hindering further the possibility of the exams taking place before the year’s end.

Health Ministry spokesperson Son Young-rae said in Wednesday’s briefing that rescheduling the exams for students who failed to apply will not be an option -- unless there was a “society-wide consensus.”

“The ministry stands by its earlier stance that any decisions with regards to medical licensing examinations must have the support of the general public,” he said.

The Korean Hospital Association’s internal analysis predicts that shortages of interns at hospitals will translate to essential care being delayed and to the medical system becoming overburdened.

Smaller hospitals in nonmetropolitan areas are likely to be hit harder if fewer interns come in next year, the association said.

“There won’t be major declines in applicants for internships at the country’s higher-ranked hospitals. But hospitals that aren’t as big or famous may suffer a big loss,” the association said. “This means doctors of higher grades will have to take on duties typically assigned to the student doctors.”

As year-end nears, the solution will have to come fast.

A senior official at the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said the commission was working to come up with an approach “acceptable to all parties involved” by next week at the latest.

“Next week is the final deadline for deciding whether the students should be permitted to sit the test or not. After that point, holding the exams spanning several weeks won’t be feasible within this year,” he said.

The push for a solution might have to come from the National Assembly, according to Lee Chang-jun, the director general for health care policy at the Health Ministry.

“The parliament, which speaks for the interests of the people, could propose an extra round of exams in light of the coronavirus emergency,” he said.

So far there has been no unified voice from the students requesting another chance to take the exam. The Korean Medical Student Association, which represents the students of some 40 medical schools nationwide, has not made any official comment since calling off the strike in early September.

Na Baeg-ju, who was the Seoul metropolitan office’s public health policy director for over three years until July, said the absence of thousands of interns amid the medical emergency could turn into an “unprecedented crisis.”

“The Health Ministry will have to come up with ways to mobilize all the available resources, including the Army physicians,” he said.

Medical lawyer Park Ho-kyun agreed hospitals may have to increase the use of nurses and other staffers to minimize the potential harms to patients from the expected shortages.

Still, there is “no legal basis” for granting the students a second chance for the exam, he said.

“If we make an exception for medical students, that will leave a precedent for other groups such as lawyers, who also take exams to be licensed.”

Park added that the lack of interns shouldn’t affect the operations of a hospital in theory.

“Interns and residents are student doctors who are paid minimum wage at hospitals for training. They’re not there for actual work,” he said. “Hospitals will have to learn to reduce their dependence on the cheap labor of trainee doctors.”

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)