As the government-doctor conflict has continued for nearly 10 months, there are voices of self-reflection among medical professors.

Medical professors acknowledged that they gave the government room to pressure the medical community by unduly relying on the government instead of leading healthcare issues.

They said that unless the medical community breaks the habit of blaming the government, the arrow will come back to the profession, as is the case with the ongoing government-doctor conflict.

“Whether the country needs more doctors, whether it should reduce or increase the number of medical students is a matter for us to decide. However, we didn't have such a discussion until the current crisis occurred,” said a Wonkwang University School of Medicine professor.

The professor remarked at the eighth Medical Education Evaluation Conference, “Grand Debate on Medical Education Policy,” organized by the Korean Society of Medical Education (KSME) at Yonsei University last Friday.

“Even when President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating dropped to the low teens, support for his healthcare reform remained at 60 percent. The government is the problem, but I reflect that the medical community, which has been avoiding its work, should also look back,” he said. “Once the dust settles, the medical community should gather and actively voice their opinions on the medical school enrollment quota and the desirable number of doctors.

A Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine professor said, “I think it's not that doctors didn't make the workforce estimation themselves. Instead, professors at the departments of medical management and preventive medicine researched and talked about the issue, but they were not well received (within the medical community).”

Yet another professor and a KSME director said, “The medical community has long said that the government doesn't listen to its demands, thinking that the government should take responsibility for the problem. If we don't change (this attitude), the things we concentrated on will come back to us like returning arrows.”

The KSME executive said, “Regarding the training environment for medical residents, trainee doctors have long complained to the government that they can't go on like this. Instead of talking to professors and negotiating with hospitals to improve the hospital environment, the junior doctors first spread the problem to the news media, saying that (professors and training hospitals) were abusing them and violating their human rights.”

And now the government is using this as an excuse to pressure the medical community, he added.

The KSME executive board member noted that the same is true of medical professors.

“The schools and hospitals don't listen, and the Korean Medical Association doesn't move, so trainee doctors turned to the government,” he said. “Instead of thinking we can change things (within the medical community), we tried to change things through the government. We can't go on like this anymore. All this will come back to bite us in 10 years.”