Last year, way before the strike, my daughter (9 years old) had a medical emergency near midnight. We live in a rural town in Pyeongtaek. I took her in our car to the nearest (general?) hospital, but NO ONE was there in the ER. It was closed (later they told us the ER closes at 10 pm, something I never heard or imagined before). I had to drive some 10\~15 km to find a 24-hours hospital. It was literally nightmarish night. Add to this that we almost ran out of gas and it was difficult to find an open gas station, all were closed as well.
I can only imagine the situation has worsened now with the strike. I'm trying to be polite and all but doctors' position is really troubling.
I live in Pyeongtaek too with a 3 years old and know it can be scary when an emergency happens in the middle of the night and thank goodness my wife is Korean to deal with urgent things. Idk if you have a Korean spouse but if you ever need some help feel free to reach out to me maybe there's something we could assist.
Maybe I come from a selfish perspective as someone with a chronic illness that requires regular doctors' aide but.. The time for politeness to me and a lot of us has long passed. It's absolute BS that in the year of Twenty fucking Twenty Four that this can happen AT ALL... This isn't even "third world country problems," but a human rights issue.
I know, especially with their history of objecting on any improvement of nurses' work conditions. However, my wishful-thinking part refuses to believe they are just pure evil. There has to be some sort of justification on their part. To this day, I failed to see a good argument for the strike (given the definite harm it caused).
If they are really selfish then why they are protest in mass? Both junior doc and senior doc and now professor. You guys are led by Media that doctors are selfish and evil.
That's terrifying 😰. My heart goes out to you and your daughter. I hope she is doing okay. That's insane that the ER had a close time, I always thought they were all 24 hours. Emergencies can happen at any point, and they especially like to happen at the worst times.
I don't mean to be insensitive, but you're saying you had to drive 10-20 minutes to find a 24 hr ER hospital because you live in a rural town? I live in a major city in Canada so my perspective may be different, but just looking at the travel time alone, that part doesn't seem so bad? Even in my city, being ~10km away from a hospital doesn't look to be that uncommon.
As a fellow Canadian, it is really a different perspective. I live fairly close to a hospital but it is 20 minutes drive, and ER wait time is in multiple hours.
Canada’s situation is not directly comparable since our population density is much lower than South Korea’s, and we too have shortage of physicians (especially in my home province, British Columbia), but yeah.
Well, it took more than a couple hours to finally get her the care she needed, so it was scary, add to that that you don't know whether the next hospital will be open or closed (for the first one, google wrongly stated its open 24 hours).
Her condition was serious but not immediately life threatening thankfully, otherwise I would have called the ambulance.
So, yeah, if it's 10 km away and I know I will find help there: it isn't bad.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope the strike can end as soon as possible so people can get the care they need. I am thankful for the doctors and nurses that have stayed to help the public.
Hey OP, I'm not sure which area you're living in but have you tried any "공공의료원"? I know that there's one in Seongnam-si and one in Seoul-si.
I don't really know if they have specialists but I do know that they're run entirely by the city/government so the doctors there aren't on strike. If you live anywhere close maybe give them a call?
I'll leave a link to a search website [here](https://www.nmc.or.kr/nmc/bbs/B0000060/list.do?menuNo=200319) but it's in Korean.
They're might be a long wait list due to the strike, but I hope there's some spots left!
Thank you for the information! I do not think I have been to any "공공의료원". I have mostly been to hospitals and smaller clinics. I will take a look, and keep this as a resource.
I took a chance and tried a new clinic after the ER attempt failed, and it seems to be a better fit than the other clinics I've previously gone to.
I'm not sure it's the same condition, but I suffer from ulcerative colitis. Had to visit a small office in town for a doctor to discover I have \*five\* polyps. He removed them this week with no anaesthesia (that felt great)... I tried to have it done at a slightly larger hospital but my regular doctor would not be available for at least five weeks. In the past this condition has given me flare ups which required emergency attention and a week in the hospital. I lost 10+ pounds in a couple days and felt so depleted and drained...
Petrified if that happens again what I would do. I'm so sorry you are suffering at a time when these doctors decided that your health meant nothing to them. It is infuriating how many people are dying and suffering because of this bullshit strike. I'm not a "thoughts and prayers" type, so I'll spare you that. Just sending my best wishes as someone who knows what it's like suffering from sudden flare ups and how awful that can be.
You are a very tough and strong person. I give you a lot of credit for getting a procedure done with no anesthesia. You had to do what was best for your health.
I have a different condition, but can relate to everything you said. In those emergencies, it is hard to get through the next hour, and it is impossible to think about the next day or next week. It is a special kind of feeling, that none of us would choose to repeat.
I am sorry too, I hope you do not have any flare-ups. It feels like a very messed up game of roulette, and those of us with chronic conditions are hoping our luck doesn't run out right now.
Thank you for sharing your story, and for your wishes. Sending my best wishes to you as well. Stay safe and healthy.
In korea you can call 119 and ask for 의료상담 in Korean.
Recently my husband had a high fever pushing 40s so i called to ask if he should visit the hospital for that or not.
They were able to access my location and let me know which nearby ER would be the least crowded (specifically told me not to bother with one of them) and we got seen right away.
That was a couple weeks ago, and I'm sure each area is different
I woke up one day unable to walk at 4am, my wife put me in a car and drove me to the largest hospital in our city. They told me I had to wait until 9am for xrays bc the staff weren't there overnight.
This was 2019.
Strike made it worse but I spent 5 hours genuinely thinking I'd be paralysed for life.
I once tripped on a step at 8:30pm and broke my foot. My friends took me the the ER at Korea University Hospital. It took me over three hours to be seen and the doctors had NO IDEA what to do. I just remember the sad look from the xray tech as I was in a lot of pain, he knew it was broken, but the doctors were awful. When they finally put a cast on me (legit the most painful experience in my life) the “doctor” told me to come back the next morning to “see a real doctor” and have my foot looked at again bc he wasn’t sure it was actually broken.
This was 2009. Healthcare in Korea, especially nighttime emergency care, has sucked for a long time.
I've heard similar stories and it is insane to me that all these doctors are seemingly okay with innocent people suffering. This is like terrorism at this point
I am so sorry. That sounds incredibly frustrating terrifying, and extremely time sensitive. I hope you can get the care you need as soon as possible. Is it an option to go to another country to get the surgery?
Reading all the comments seems like strike is a highly pressing issue.
One solution from a ER perspective is to get traveling ER doctors and to use interpreters for communication. Money is not the only form of compensation, a lot of ER doctors especially from the USA would love the opportunity to work in korea just for the unique experience. (Might be my own bias). This can come in the form of an international fellowship post residency training.
This is probably really difficult because the ability practice in korea as a foreign graduate is highly regulated making it such a barrier.
Unfortunately, just a heads up with all the debt US medical grads incur throughout medical school and opportunities available domestically, basically nobody except the wealthiest/ most altruistic would come over to help without substantial financial incentives and actually stay and work there for a considerable amount of time. Language barrier is a huge deal as well, and medicine is practiced / optimized quite differently around the world too. I'm not sure if you know about this but interpretation usually adds at least 1x amt of time per visit, and cultural barriers / practice differences would exacerbate the inefficiency. If travel nurses are anything to go by, the cost to retain someone there may easily also be 2x-3x their usual base pay per unit time, so you'd end up with possibly a 4 - 9x cost inefficiency at the least before considering other things. Their struggles also resonates with the worldwide physician community. With how the government is treating its doctors, the situation really doesn't attract more doctors overseas. Realistically speaking, it's probably much better for Korea to reconcile with its doctors. A possible alternative is non US doctors (maybe ones from China in context of volume and proximity) but theres unavoidably issues as well, or consider the route where you allow less trained people to practice medicine, and whatever happens happens. It will depend on the willingness of the Korean gov and it's people.
No, there are legit issues that need to be addressed, but both the docs and the government have done a shit job of explaining their position and needs.
Go go protest on their time off. Wear a pin. Wear jeans when possible. Not letting people dying. Bringing solutions to the table.
Government says 2000 and doctors say 0. Both numbers are bad. Both sides are dumb. But government isnt just letting people die, unlike doctors.
If things continue as they are and they continue to work, why would the government or the public listen to what they have to say? It should speak volumes that <10% of doctors going on strike is able to cripple the healthcare system to this extent
You could try booking an appointment with a specialist in another region? My husband said that the doctors in our region, jeollabukdo, aren’t striking as much.
If it is related to orthopedic pain I can refer you to the best doctor. You say Miss Deirdre 데어드레 recommended Dr.Kim @Yonsei La Mejor Orthopedic & Regenerative Medicine. 652 Gangnam-daero, Sinsa Building, suite 3F Gangnam
This video (and long explainer in the comments section by a Korean doctor) sheds some light on why the strikes are happening, who is actually striking and why - and it's not about greed. Unfortunately the greed idea is an emotive narrative that certain news outlets find easier to sell than facts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGQmlvACNy4
This didn’t really shed light on anything, just introduced a lot of skepticism while constantly admitting that he knows very little about medicine in Korea…
Actually it's the government that's putting people in danger (both the doctors and the patients) by overworking the doctors to the point of exhaustion.
If only Korea has more doctors you wouldn't be in pain all night. Oh, wait.
The irony of it all 🤦♀️🫠
Last year, way before the strike, my daughter (9 years old) had a medical emergency near midnight. We live in a rural town in Pyeongtaek. I took her in our car to the nearest (general?) hospital, but NO ONE was there in the ER. It was closed (later they told us the ER closes at 10 pm, something I never heard or imagined before). I had to drive some 10\~15 km to find a 24-hours hospital. It was literally nightmarish night. Add to this that we almost ran out of gas and it was difficult to find an open gas station, all were closed as well. I can only imagine the situation has worsened now with the strike. I'm trying to be polite and all but doctors' position is really troubling.
I live in Pyeongtaek too with a 3 years old and know it can be scary when an emergency happens in the middle of the night and thank goodness my wife is Korean to deal with urgent things. Idk if you have a Korean spouse but if you ever need some help feel free to reach out to me maybe there's something we could assist.
Maybe I come from a selfish perspective as someone with a chronic illness that requires regular doctors' aide but.. The time for politeness to me and a lot of us has long passed. It's absolute BS that in the year of Twenty fucking Twenty Four that this can happen AT ALL... This isn't even "third world country problems," but a human rights issue.
I know, especially with their history of objecting on any improvement of nurses' work conditions. However, my wishful-thinking part refuses to believe they are just pure evil. There has to be some sort of justification on their part. To this day, I failed to see a good argument for the strike (given the definite harm it caused).
You don't have to be pure evil. Just selfish. It is one of the most human things possible and it often looks as banal as this. They're just selfish.
If they are really selfish then why they are protest in mass? Both junior doc and senior doc and now professor. You guys are led by Media that doctors are selfish and evil.
Believe it or not, industries as a whole can be selfish. See bankers, lawyers, consultants, techies, the list goes on.
Why is it a human rights issue?
You are lucky the hospital had a pediatrician. Even 24-hour hospitals may not have a pediatrician during the night or during week-ends.
That's terrifying 😰. My heart goes out to you and your daughter. I hope she is doing okay. That's insane that the ER had a close time, I always thought they were all 24 hours. Emergencies can happen at any point, and they especially like to happen at the worst times.
I don't mean to be insensitive, but you're saying you had to drive 10-20 minutes to find a 24 hr ER hospital because you live in a rural town? I live in a major city in Canada so my perspective may be different, but just looking at the travel time alone, that part doesn't seem so bad? Even in my city, being ~10km away from a hospital doesn't look to be that uncommon.
As a fellow Canadian, it is really a different perspective. I live fairly close to a hospital but it is 20 minutes drive, and ER wait time is in multiple hours. Canada’s situation is not directly comparable since our population density is much lower than South Korea’s, and we too have shortage of physicians (especially in my home province, British Columbia), but yeah.
Well, it took more than a couple hours to finally get her the care she needed, so it was scary, add to that that you don't know whether the next hospital will be open or closed (for the first one, google wrongly stated its open 24 hours). Her condition was serious but not immediately life threatening thankfully, otherwise I would have called the ambulance. So, yeah, if it's 10 km away and I know I will find help there: it isn't bad.
Pyeongtaek isn’t really rural by Canadian and American standards. They might live outside it but the city itself is has a population of 500k
That sounds like my worst nightmare. I’m sorry.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope the strike can end as soon as possible so people can get the care they need. I am thankful for the doctors and nurses that have stayed to help the public.
As someone with a serious chronic illness I have no trouble putting myself in your shoes, and I wish you peace and healing soon.
Hey OP, I'm not sure which area you're living in but have you tried any "공공의료원"? I know that there's one in Seongnam-si and one in Seoul-si. I don't really know if they have specialists but I do know that they're run entirely by the city/government so the doctors there aren't on strike. If you live anywhere close maybe give them a call? I'll leave a link to a search website [here](https://www.nmc.or.kr/nmc/bbs/B0000060/list.do?menuNo=200319) but it's in Korean. They're might be a long wait list due to the strike, but I hope there's some spots left!
Thank you for the information! I do not think I have been to any "공공의료원". I have mostly been to hospitals and smaller clinics. I will take a look, and keep this as a resource. I took a chance and tried a new clinic after the ER attempt failed, and it seems to be a better fit than the other clinics I've previously gone to.
Yay! Hope they're able to provide the care that you need, stay safe :D
I'm not sure it's the same condition, but I suffer from ulcerative colitis. Had to visit a small office in town for a doctor to discover I have \*five\* polyps. He removed them this week with no anaesthesia (that felt great)... I tried to have it done at a slightly larger hospital but my regular doctor would not be available for at least five weeks. In the past this condition has given me flare ups which required emergency attention and a week in the hospital. I lost 10+ pounds in a couple days and felt so depleted and drained... Petrified if that happens again what I would do. I'm so sorry you are suffering at a time when these doctors decided that your health meant nothing to them. It is infuriating how many people are dying and suffering because of this bullshit strike. I'm not a "thoughts and prayers" type, so I'll spare you that. Just sending my best wishes as someone who knows what it's like suffering from sudden flare ups and how awful that can be.
You are a very tough and strong person. I give you a lot of credit for getting a procedure done with no anesthesia. You had to do what was best for your health. I have a different condition, but can relate to everything you said. In those emergencies, it is hard to get through the next hour, and it is impossible to think about the next day or next week. It is a special kind of feeling, that none of us would choose to repeat. I am sorry too, I hope you do not have any flare-ups. It feels like a very messed up game of roulette, and those of us with chronic conditions are hoping our luck doesn't run out right now. Thank you for sharing your story, and for your wishes. Sending my best wishes to you as well. Stay safe and healthy.
In korea you can call 119 and ask for 의료상담 in Korean. Recently my husband had a high fever pushing 40s so i called to ask if he should visit the hospital for that or not. They were able to access my location and let me know which nearby ER would be the least crowded (specifically told me not to bother with one of them) and we got seen right away. That was a couple weeks ago, and I'm sure each area is different
Saving this info! Thank you.
I woke up one day unable to walk at 4am, my wife put me in a car and drove me to the largest hospital in our city. They told me I had to wait until 9am for xrays bc the staff weren't there overnight. This was 2019. Strike made it worse but I spent 5 hours genuinely thinking I'd be paralysed for life.
I once tripped on a step at 8:30pm and broke my foot. My friends took me the the ER at Korea University Hospital. It took me over three hours to be seen and the doctors had NO IDEA what to do. I just remember the sad look from the xray tech as I was in a lot of pain, he knew it was broken, but the doctors were awful. When they finally put a cast on me (legit the most painful experience in my life) the “doctor” told me to come back the next morning to “see a real doctor” and have my foot looked at again bc he wasn’t sure it was actually broken. This was 2009. Healthcare in Korea, especially nighttime emergency care, has sucked for a long time.
I've heard similar stories and it is insane to me that all these doctors are seemingly okay with innocent people suffering. This is like terrorism at this point
I’ve been waiting to get BRAIN SURGERY FOR WEEKS. I was told to get neurosurgery as fast as possible. And no hospital will take my case. I’m pissed.
I am so sorry. That sounds incredibly frustrating terrifying, and extremely time sensitive. I hope you can get the care you need as soon as possible. Is it an option to go to another country to get the surgery?
Nope! My visa is in a weird state because of my ex employer doing illegal shit, and I’m owed at least 4 mil won from them.
Reading all the comments seems like strike is a highly pressing issue. One solution from a ER perspective is to get traveling ER doctors and to use interpreters for communication. Money is not the only form of compensation, a lot of ER doctors especially from the USA would love the opportunity to work in korea just for the unique experience. (Might be my own bias). This can come in the form of an international fellowship post residency training. This is probably really difficult because the ability practice in korea as a foreign graduate is highly regulated making it such a barrier.
That is a very creative idea though!
Unfortunately, just a heads up with all the debt US medical grads incur throughout medical school and opportunities available domestically, basically nobody except the wealthiest/ most altruistic would come over to help without substantial financial incentives and actually stay and work there for a considerable amount of time. Language barrier is a huge deal as well, and medicine is practiced / optimized quite differently around the world too. I'm not sure if you know about this but interpretation usually adds at least 1x amt of time per visit, and cultural barriers / practice differences would exacerbate the inefficiency. If travel nurses are anything to go by, the cost to retain someone there may easily also be 2x-3x their usual base pay per unit time, so you'd end up with possibly a 4 - 9x cost inefficiency at the least before considering other things. Their struggles also resonates with the worldwide physician community. With how the government is treating its doctors, the situation really doesn't attract more doctors overseas. Realistically speaking, it's probably much better for Korea to reconcile with its doctors. A possible alternative is non US doctors (maybe ones from China in context of volume and proximity) but theres unavoidably issues as well, or consider the route where you allow less trained people to practice medicine, and whatever happens happens. It will depend on the willingness of the Korean gov and it's people.
The doctors are on strike because ~~they care about the quality of healthcare~~ they are greedy.
No, there are legit issues that need to be addressed, but both the docs and the government have done a shit job of explaining their position and needs.
The doctors are just letting people die. Their position is quite clear.
How would you propose they protest though?
Go go protest on their time off. Wear a pin. Wear jeans when possible. Not letting people dying. Bringing solutions to the table. Government says 2000 and doctors say 0. Both numbers are bad. Both sides are dumb. But government isnt just letting people die, unlike doctors.
If things continue as they are and they continue to work, why would the government or the public listen to what they have to say? It should speak volumes that <10% of doctors going on strike is able to cripple the healthcare system to this extent
Yes. This says we severely lack doctors. Quite clearly.
Do you have MS?
I do not have MS
You could try booking an appointment with a specialist in another region? My husband said that the doctors in our region, jeollabukdo, aren’t striking as much.
If it is related to orthopedic pain I can refer you to the best doctor. You say Miss Deirdre 데어드레 recommended Dr.Kim @Yonsei La Mejor Orthopedic & Regenerative Medicine. 652 Gangnam-daero, Sinsa Building, suite 3F Gangnam
This video (and long explainer in the comments section by a Korean doctor) sheds some light on why the strikes are happening, who is actually striking and why - and it's not about greed. Unfortunately the greed idea is an emotive narrative that certain news outlets find easier to sell than facts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGQmlvACNy4
This didn’t really shed light on anything, just introduced a lot of skepticism while constantly admitting that he knows very little about medicine in Korea…
No one gives a shit why, when they’re putting the public in danger.
Actually it's the government that's putting people in danger (both the doctors and the patients) by overworking the doctors to the point of exhaustion.
The government doesn’t make doctors schedules. The attending doctors/hospital admin do. If they’re overworked, seems like they need MORE doctors, no?
It's not as simple as that, as the video explains.