South Korea’s Health Minister Cho Kyu-hong said authorities will dispatch 20 military doctors and 138 public health doctors to 20 hospitals nationwide starting Mar. 11.
The Health Ministry announced such measures to address the healthcare crisis caused by thousands of doctors who walked off their jobs in protest of the government’s plans to increase the country’s medical school admissions quota by 2,000.
“We will also allocate $97.3 million (128.5 billion won) from reserve funds, along with a monthly infusion of $142.6 million (188.2 billion won) from the health insurance fund to strengthen compensation for medical services provided to emergency patients and those who are critically ill,” Minister Cho said in a meeting on Mar. 10.
The announcement comes as the government braces for an extended period of “medical disruptions” as the doctors’ walkout will soon enter its fourth week, with no signs of ending shortly. About 90% of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors on strike refused to return to work by the end of the February deadline set by the government.
Military doctors and public health doctors will be assigned to major hospitals in Seoul - Seoul National University Hospital, Asan Medical Center, Severance Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital - collectively referred to as the “Big 5,” which are facing acute shortages following the mass walkout. “We are also planning to deploy more military doctors and public health doctors depending on the situation,” said a senior government official.
The country has over 1,400 public health doctors nationwide, of which more than 400 are specialists. “We will try to fill the gap left by the departure of specialists as much as possible by adding military doctors and public affairs doctors and expanding the role of physician assistants,” said a Health Ministry official.
The government said the emergency care system, which focuses on severe and urgent patients, has remained stable. But many critically ill patients, after being admitted to emergency rooms, face delays in receiving emergency surgery. Many of these patients have been transferred between emergency rooms and intensive care units, indicating a bottleneck in the treatment process.
Large hospitals are witnessing a swift decline in operational conditions, with bed occupancy rates dropping below 50%. Pusan National University Hospital, where 87% of doctors have resigned, reportedly faces a deficit of 10 billion won this month. Ulsan National University Hospital has also been forced to implement emergency management protocols due to similar challenges.
