Quit Medicine For Farming? South Korean Doctors Speak Out

South Korean junior medics say medical reforms and the government's reaction to doctors' opposition will drive some of them out of the profession for good (Credit: AFP)

From the outside, Seoul's main hospitals seem unchanged: ambulances pull up, patients walk in, staff in white coats walk around purposefully. But for weeks, South Korean healthcare has been struggling.

Surgeries have been cancelled, crucial chemotherapy sessions delayed, and it is nearly impossible to get a walk-in appointment since thousands of junior doctors walked off the job on February 20 in a standoff with the government over medical training reforms.