An increasing number of medical students on leave of absence are choosing to enlist in active duty instead of returning to school.

As more and more medical students complete their military service and become licensed doctors, medical sources said there will be a shortage of military and public health doctors for years to come.

A medical student, for instance, has decided not to return to school next year and applied to KATUSA (Korean Augmentation Troops to the U.S. Army). The student recently received a letter from the Military Manpower Administration that he has been accepted into the KATUSA and should report to the Korea Army Training Center by July next year.

Another medical student also postponed his return to school and applied for active duty. He plans to start and finish his military service as a general medic.

They are just two examples of medical students on leave of absence who postpone returning to school and joining the army. At 10 national university medical schools alone, more than six times as many medical students chose to enlist in the military this year as in the previous year.

Rep. Jin Sun-mi of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, analyzed data on the status of medical students' military leave of absence submitted by 10 national university medical schools and found that 308 medical students submitted military leave of absence and enlisted in the military this year.

That compares with last year when 51 medical students enlisted in active duty before the healthcare turmoil occurred due to the medical school enrollment quota increase. In one year, the number of medical students enlisting in active duty has increased 6.3 times.

More medicine department (main course) students enlisted in the military than pre-med students. Last year, 20 pre-med students enlisted in the military, compared to 112 this year, a 5.6-fold increase. During the same period, the number of main course students increased 6.3 times, from 31 to 196.

Among the 10 national university medical schools, Jeonbuk National University Medical School has the most medical students who submitted military leave of absence this year, totaling 57.

Following its lead was Chonnam National University Medical School, 46, Kyungpook National University College of Medicine, 42, Pusan National University School of Medicine, 39, Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, 31, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, 29, Kangwon National University College of Medicine, 21, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, 18, Jeju National University College of Medicine, 15, and Seoul National University College of Medicine, 10.

If the military leaves of absence at the 30 private medical schools are added, the number of medical students enlisting in active duty will be even higher, Rep. Jin said, significantly disrupting the supply of military doctors in the future. The Defense Ministry operates the military healthcare system on the premise that it will receive about 700 military doctors each year. Currently, more than 2,100 military doctors are on duty, she added.

“We could check the military leave of medical students at national universities first,” Rep. Jin said. “The scale of the problem would be much larger if we checked the entire military leave of medical students at private universities.”

Rep. Jin criticized the government for unilaterally pushing to increase the number of medical students without thorough preparation, leading to “medical students refusing to attend school, doctors and professors resigning, and emergency rooms being overcrowded, threatening public safety.”

She added that the supply of military doctors to protect the military medical system is expected to be significantly disrupted in the future, urging related agencies to monitor the situation closely.