Number of foreign doctors in Korea rises by 26% since 2019 amid healthcare system concerns < Hospital < Article

The number of foreign doctors working in Korea is increasing every year.

The number of foreign doctors practicing in Korea has already exceeded last year’s level, reflecting concerns about the collapse of the healthcare system due to the mass resignation of trainee doctors.

The government has pushed to allow foreign doctors to practice medicine in Korea to prevent a medical void caused by its conflicts with the medical community, which resulted from the unilateral increase in the medical school enrollment quota.

According to the “Status of Foreign Doctors” data Rep. Jeon Jin-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the number of foreign doctors increased from 452 in 2019 to 472 in 2020, 485 in 2021, 500 in 2022, 521 in 2023, and 546 in June 2024.

The increase was more pronounced among specialists than generalists. As of this year, 465, or 85.2 percent, of foreign physicians were specialists, and 81 were generalists. Compared to 2019, the number of foreign-trained physicians increased by 26 percent in 2024, while that of generalists declined by 2.4 percent.

By specialty, 69 foreign doctors are working in internal medicine, 58 in family medicine, 37 in obstetrics and gynecology, 34 in surgery, 33 in orthopedics, and 32 in pediatrics in 2024.

Internal medicine, family medicine, and obstetrics-gynecology were among the specialties with the most foreign physicians each year from 2019 to 2024. Emergency medicine specialists increased 116.7 percent from six in 2019 to 13 in June 2024, and neurosurgeons increased from nine to 14.

In contrast, dermatology, which is classified as a popular specialty in Korea, decreased by 37.5 percent, from eight to five.

The number of approvals for foreign medical licensees to practice medicine in Korea is also rising.

According to the “Status of Approval of Foreign Medical Licensees to Practice Medicine in Korea” data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of approvals for foreign medical licensees to practice medicine in Korea over the past five years was 493 for doctors and 91 for dentists, totaling 584.

The number of physician approvals by year was 80 in 2020, 89 in 2021, 74 in 2022, and 74 in 2022 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It rebounded sharply in 2023, doubling to 149 year-on-year. As of August this year, the ministry approved 101 cases, 67.8 percent of the total in 2023.

In May, the Health and Welfare Ministry announced it would amend Article 18 of the enforcement rules of the Medical Service Act, the legal basis for approving foreign medical licensees to practice medicine in Korea, to allow foreign medical licensees to practice medicine in Korea when a severe-level crisis warning is issued under Article 38 Paragraph 2 of the Basic Act on Disaster and Safety Management.

The legislative notice was followed by heated debate, with 65 comments in favor and 1,628 in opposition. The Medical Service Act’s implementation rules have yet to be revised.

“It seems necessary to examine closely the background of the increase in the number of foreign doctors, mainly in essential medical specialties, such as internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and small medicine,” Rep. Jeon said. “The Health and Welfare Ministry’s plan to introduce foreign physician licenses, which it hastily pushed without sufficient deliberation, should be reviewed from the ground up.”