Thousands call for stricter rules on medical practitioners trained abroad

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) Around 2,000 people, including many doctors and dentists, took to the streets in Taipei on Sunday to demand stricter regulations on foreign-trained medical and dental graduates seeking to return to Taiwan to practice, according to the Taiwan General Dental Practitioners Association (TGDPA), which organized the event.

The march traversing the streets in front of the Legislative Yuan began after lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, the main opposition Kuomintang and the smaller Taiwan People's Party, delivered remarks supporting the TGDPA's demands.

Urging the authorities to impose stricter regulations on "BoBo Doctors" (波波醫師), the TGDPA raised demands including amending the Physicians Act to establish a cap on internship quotas for foreign-trained medical and dental graduates returning to Taiwan.

"BoBo Doctors," which also extends to another term "BoBo Dentists" (波波牙醫), has recently become a buzzword in Taiwan, representing a growing debate over issues such as professional standards, licensing practices and internship quotas for medical professionals educated in Taiwan and abroad.

The two terms refer to Taiwanese medical practitioners who obtained their medical or dental degrees abroad, particularly in Eastern or Southern European countries such as Poland ("Bo" is the Mandarin phonetic abbreviation for Poland), Spain and the Czech Republic.

Some Taiwanese students choose to pursue medical education in those countries due to the intense competition for spots in Taiwan's domestic medical or dental schools and due to a "loophole" in Taiwanese legislation, according to the TGDPA.

Medical and dental graduates educated in Eastern European countries such as Poland can bypass Taiwan's stringent "academic certificate approval process" ("the process") due to exemptions granted to European Union (EU) member states, TGDPA President Huang Ying-chi (黃映綺) told CNA before the march.

"The process" is a two-stage examination that evaluates whether the professional knowledge associated with the foreign degree held by the applicant is equivalent to the professional knowledge expected of a graduate from a domestic medical program, according to the Ministry of Examination.

The exemptions for "the process" -- only applicable to students enrolled in medical or dental schools in the so-called "nine advanced medical regions," including EU member states, by Dec. 31, 2022 -- allow those students to directly take Taiwan's Physician Examination, which grants a physician license upon passing, Huang added.

She explained that the two-stage Physician Examination uses a multiple-choice format with a passing threshold of 60 points, arguing that after being exempted from "the process," "BoBo Doctors" and "BoBo Dentists" can rely on studying past questions of the Physician Examination to achieve the required score.

"They directly take our national examinations, study past exam questions and obtain a physician license, which creates a loophole in the system," Huang said, expressing doubts about the professional standards of "BoBo Doctors" and "BoBo Dentists."

Colin Lin (林宗億), the president of the International Dental Union Alumni Association who graduated from a Spanish dental school, acknowledged that it was true in the past that the Physician Examination mostly consisted of past exam questions, making it easy to pass.

"Back then, it was indeed quite simple -- I could just memorize the questions, and within a week of preparation, I could take the exam," Lin told CNA after a press conference held by his association.

He, however, rebutted Huang's claim by pointing out that the situation changed significantly after 2018, when the difficulty of the Physician Examination increased substantially, with the questions becoming much more varied, leading to a sharp drop in the pass rate.

"I believe the current Physician Examination is much more effective in distinguishing qualified candidates ... and I fully support this approach," said Lin, who returned to Taiwan around two years ago, and is still working to obtain his license in Taiwan.

Lin also highlighted an example of a Taiwanese dental graduate from Poland's Poznan University of Medical Sciences who achieved second place in the first stage of the nationwide Physician Examination this year, saying: "These examples prove that students with foreign degrees are not inferior to those educated in Taiwan."

In response to concerns about the "BoBo Doctors" issue, the Ministry of Health and Welfare issued a news release later Sunday that the review process for foreign degrees will become more stringent in the near future.

"Qualifications obtained through correspondence courses, distance learning and programs not open to public enrollment will be excluded, thereby raising the threshold for eligibility to take the national examination," the ministry said.