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KMID : 0857920210240020111
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Yonsei Journal of Medical History
2021 Volume.24 No. 2 p.111 ~ p.145
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The Medical Qualification Examination in Korea, 1914?1963
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Hong Chang-Hee
Park Seung-Mann
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Abstract
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This paper examines the actual conditions of the medical qualification examination conducted in Korea from 1914 during the colonial period to 1963 after liberation. Qualifications for the issuance of a medical license continue to be revised with changes in the political system and society. In particular, a medical qualification examination system that allowed individuals to become a doctor without regular education was conducted in the past. Several studies have investigated in detail why such a system was introduced and abolished.
However, questions about who applied and passed the examination and what proportion they occupied in the medical system of the time remain.
This paper presents the answers to these questions, largely divided into before and after liberation. First, before liberation, the medical qualification examination occupied a large proportion of the medical system. Medical colleges and medical academies, which were not authorized by the Governor-General of Joseon, were actually in charge of preparing the examination. An estimated 10%?30% of all new doctors during that time were issued licenses through these examinations. This was the result of the Government-General continuously relaxing the qualifications for those taking the exam and lowering the difficulty to solve the colony’s shortage of doctors.
The situation changed after liberation. The proportion of licenses issued through the qualification examination steadily decreased to less than 1%. The chaotic social situation after liberation and the Korean War made it difficult to prepare for the examination as medical academies could not operate. After Korean society regained some stability, medical schools expanded and the need for a qualification examination decreased. Officials from the administration and legislature, who were hostile to the examination, reduced the ratio of doctors issued licenses through the test by adjusting the difficulty of and eligibility for the test and eventually revised the Medical Law to abolish the examination.
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KEYWORD
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medical qualification examination, medical license, medical college, medical academy
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