Patient groups demand ”send foreign medical license holders to the field”... demand ”public hearing” at Ministry of Health and Welfare (South Korea)

In South Korea, as university hospitals and other institutions continue to close indefinitely, patient groups are calling for "foreign medical license holders to be deployed to the domestic medical field."
The Korea Critical Care Association said, "On the 19th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will hold a public hearing on the issue of foreign medical license holders entering the domestic medical field.
The Korea Serious Diseases Association is a coalition of six groups of patients with serious diseases, including the Korean Cancer Patients' Rights Council and the Korean Lung Cancer Patients' Association.
"There are several hundred foreign medical license holders currently residing in Korea, and it is time to consider measures such as quickly introducing them into the medical field," they said. "The government should no longer wait for the doctors' approval.
"We should lift the income restrictions for foreign doctors, open up the medical market significantly, and take proactive steps to eliminate medical cartels," he said.
"Patients with serious illnesses are being pushed to the point of death," he said. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced last month that it would begin accepting applications from foreign medical license holders if the health and medical crisis alert level was raised to "serious."
The government is holding a legislative teaser for a proposed amendment to the Medical Care Act Enforcement Regulations that would allow medical practitioners with medical licenses to practice medicine in Korea. The Korean Medical Association is strongly opposed to this, while the Korea Serious Diseases Association said, "The legislative teaser period is not an opportunity for us to express our opposition."
"However, the prevailing opinion among patients and citizens on the ground is that 'We need permission for foreign doctors to practice in order to prevent a medical vacuum.'"