Anseong Mayor Kim Bo-ra Questions Eligibility Limits in Proposed Regional Doctor Program

South Korea’s government is pushing to introduce a “regional doctor program” to address uneven distribution of medical workers. The plan aims to fill gaps in essential care in rural areas, smaller cities, and island and mountainous regions where staffing is scarce. Support for the idea is broad, but the debate has focused on how the program is designed.

On Tuesday, Anseong Mayor Kim Bo-ra raised questions in a social media post. Kim said she supports the program in principle but asked whether the proposed approach can actually strengthen local health care. She publicly challenged discussions about limiting eligibility to applicants who graduated from middle and high schools within the relevant medical service area.

The government is seen as considering that standard to prevent students from Seoul and other large cities from using the program as an alternative admissions route. It also reflects an expectation that students who grew up and studied locally are more likely to stay after completing mandatory service.

Kim pointed to existing behavior around special admissions for rural and fishing communities. Some students, she wrote, move their registered address to rural areas near the capital region starting in middle school, attend local schools during the semester and travel to private academies in Seoul during breaks. The more a system is built around “where you’re from,” she argued, the more it can be exploited in ways that diverge from its purpose.

Kim said restricting eligibility by middle and high school region does not guarantee a doctor will remain after mandatory service. She also questioned excluding applicants who grew up in Seoul but make a firm choice to provide essential care in underserved areas.

Her criticism went beyond fairness in access. Kim said the program’s success depends less on applicants’ origins than on training that builds a sense of mission as a regional doctor. She called for education after selection that helps doctors understand local conditions, build relationships with residents and internalize the public nature of medical care — producing doctors who embrace local practice rather than simply fulfilling a service requirement.

Kim acknowledged that motivations for becoming a doctor are complex and that many high-achieving students choose medical school for economic reasons, a reality she said will not change overnight. But she drew a line, arguing that the regional doctor program should not be distorted as a way to address that broader issue.

Kim said the program should not be framed as compensation for people from certain areas, but as a system to develop doctors committed to taking responsibility for local health care. That makes the initial design crucial, she said — focusing not on whom to exclude, but on whom to cultivate and how.

Kim said success should be measured not only in head counts but in whether more doctors ultimately stay, know their patients and remain part of the community. The answer, she argued, lies in choice, education and the program’s guiding philosophy, not birthplace.

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