Sent to Med School to Serve as Military Doctors, Then Discharged: The 'Hit-and-Run' Controversy

There is a system where the state pays for tuition to send individuals to medical school, allowing them to earn a salary as military personnel while becoming medical specialists.

In return, after becoming specialists, they are required to serve as military doctors for 10 years.

However, it has been found that more than 3 out of 4 military doctors who completed this mandatory service period ultimately left the military.

This has sparked the so-called "hit-and-run" controversy, raising questions about whether a system created to secure long-term military doctors is being exploited by some officers merely as a pathway to obtain a medical license.

The military-sponsored medical education program selects around 10 junior officers, ranging from second lieutenants to captains, each year to receive medical education funded by the national budget.

With a recommendation from the Minister of National Defense, they can enter medical or dental school without going through separate regular entrance examination competition, and the government supports tuition fees, including admission and enrollment costs.

Furthermore, they maintain their officer status while attending medical school and receive salaries according to their rank.

After completing 9 years of education and training, which includes 4 years of undergraduate medical studies followed by 5 years of residency and internship training, they can also obtain specialist qualifications.

The condition is that they must subsequently serve as military doctors for 10 years of mandatory service.

The issue is whether the original intent of keeping them in the military as long-term military doctors is being properly realized.

Over the past 10 years, 42 military doctors have completed their 10-year mandatory service.

Among them, 32—or 76.2%—subsequently left the military.

In particular, 14 of those discharged left the military immediately upon the completion of their mandatory service period.

Medical school admissions through this system continue to take place recently as well.

Over the 3-year period from 2024 to this year, a total of 50 officers were selected as sponsored medical education students.

By branch, 29 are from the Army, 11 from the Navy, and 10 from the Air Force.

By background, graduates of 4-year military academies, including the Korea Military Academy, the Naval Academy, the Air Force Academy, and the Armed Forces Nursing Academy, accounted for the vast majority with 42 people.

Criticism is rising that if the structure is one where a significant number leave the military once their mandatory service ends—despite the massive national budget injected to train specialists—improvement measures must be devised to align with the institutional purpose of securing long-term military medical personnel.

(Reported by Kim Minjeong, Video Editing by Kim Na-on, Design by Yook Do-hyun, Produced by SBS Digital News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.