In August 2022, a nurse at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage while at work.
However, on that day, Asan Medical Center did not have a cerebrovascular surgeon who could open the skull and perform brain surgery.
Although Asan Hospital is the largest hospital in Korea, there are only two professors in cerebrovascular surgery.
The nurse was taken to Seoul National University Hospital, where a doctor was able to perform a craniotomy, but she eventually died.
━
■ Why were there only two doctors at Asan Medical Center for craniotomy?
How could it be that only two doctors at Asan Hospital, the largest hospital in Korea, were able to perform cerebral hemorrhage surgery?
You might think so, but ‘since it was Asan Hospital, there were at least two cerebrovascular surgeons,’ explained Bang Jae-seung, professor of neurosurgery at Seoul National University’s Bundang Hospital .
“Some small and medium-sized hospitals or local university hospitals have only one patient or none at all, and as a result, if you go to the emergency room at night with a cerebral hemorrhage, you may not get a job – surgery.”
So why don’t hospitals employ ‘craniotomy’ doctors at their leisure?
“Because there is no money. No, cerebrovascular craniotomy is not only unprofitable, the more surgery is done, the more the hospital loses, so why hire more ?
Do you know how much the most difficult brain aneurysm surgery costs, which takes about 4 hours? 2.5 million won. That’s because it rose from 2.2 million won to 300,000 won after the ‘Asan Hospital incident’.
The cost of cerebrovascular surgery in Korea is 2/7 of that in Japan.
Compared to other surgical fields in Korea, the rate is very low. Compare it to beauty/plastic centers. ”
Graph provided by: Professor Bang Jae-seung, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital
You can see that the cost of cerebrovascular surgery/procedure is lower than breast plastic surgery and rhinoplasty surgery.
As I listened to Professor Bang, I remembered an advertisement for a local dermatology clinic that had recently opened.
I think the laser package called the opening memorial discount was won more than 3 million, but the price of the most difficult brain aneurysm surgery is not even the price of skin laser …
The government sent the ‘Asan Hospital nurse’s death’ incident to the Seoul High Court as a reason to increase the number of medical schools. Will hiring more medical students lead hospitals to hire more craniotomy surgeons?
This is where the views of the government and the medical community are changing.
Graph provided by: Professor Bang Jae-seung, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital
━
■ Even within neurosurgery, ‘spine’ is advocated rather than ‘brain’… “callback 365 days a year”
90 to 100 neurosurgeons were produced each year.
However, even if we collect all fourth-year neurosurgery residents across the country, there will only be 12, and about 12 will appear next year. And not all of them choose the cerebral blood vessels.
Professor Jaeseung Bang continued to explain.
“Even within neurosurgery, the ratio between the brain and the spine is about 3:7. I don’t do brain work.
Why do you prefer the spine? There are only a few emergency surgeries at night. There are very few cases where a patient’s condition suddenly worsens and they are called to the hospital, and there are very few cases where there is a medical trial was registered due to poor surgical results.
Instead of a surgeon who performs a craniotomy inside the brain, I prefer a specialty in cerebrovascular surgery, which includes ’embolization’. If our generation becomes a craniotomy doctor who is on duty 365 days a year, who will do it? “What do you tell young doctors to do?”
Professor Ha Eun-jin, neurosurgeon at Seoul National University Hospital (main hospital), said the same thing.
“I was on call 24 hours a day for Seven Days until last year. I was the only professor in charge of the surgical intensive care unit. Until one person came along in February this year…
Even if the patient’s condition stabilized and the patient went home, if the patient’s condition worsened again, the patient would be called back to the hospital, 365 days a year , for 7 years.
Because the quality of life was like this, no one wanted to do it for many years.
As 3, 5, and 10 years pass, your life should be more stable and better, but it isn’t…
If you look at the lives of the seniors and professors above you, even the residents know that nothing will change even if they work like crazy machines. ‘I don’t want to live like the professor who works on cerebrovascular diseases, so I’m going to have a spine.’ That’s why they don’t come.”
━
■ “It’s about cosmetics. That is why the country is destroyed.” In what field are doctors needed?
Even though people are coming to open dermatology clinics, is it normal that there will not be a dermatology clinic that treats skin diseases and only provides cosmetic treatment? I asked Professor Jaeseung Bang.
“That’s not true, is it? I think so too. As a citizen, this is not right. Why do dermatologists only look at cosmetics when they should be looking at skin diseases? This needs to change.
However, for this to happen, dermatology fees must also be normal.
Wouldn’t you be hard-working enough to pay hospital rent and pay a nurse If you only see the deficiency, how can you treat skin diseases under insurance?
Hairdressing…everyone just does hairdressing. This is what is destroying the country. really.”
Professor Ha Eun-jin points out that we need to accurately estimate how many doctors are needed in that field.
“How many doctors do we need in the areas that we need to maintain for the health of the people?
Is there any data on how many times the disease occurs each year, what are the characteristics of the area where the disease occurs, and how many people should be assigned to that area ? Did you talk about it?
Is there a social consensus that there should be 4 to 5 cerebrovascular surgeons in a hospital?
If we say there is a shortage of essential and local medical services, can we just increase the number of people by 2,000?
“Are you going to go to that area, an area that is in need. Are you going to hire doctors in that area and continue to do surgeries even though hospitals are running at a loss ? “
━
■ “Essential medical care is over… If it doesn’t come back by March next year, it will be shut down.”
The medical gap has been going on for 9 months already. There was talk of two medical groups taking part in the ruling and opposition council, but there has been no major progress since then. Will the clue be solved this time?
Professor Bang Jae-seung’s words became more heated.
“Nothing has changed. If residents do not return by March of next year, the medical emergency will likely be over.
There is no real solution, but commentators and politicians keep saying that we must find a solution.
Next year, there will be no experts, and no military doctors/public health doctors will appear…
Since there are no specialists, naturally there will be no candidates for full-time doctors. Then, tertiary general hospitals are closed.
How long can professors stay on duty?
“If we hold out until March and don’t come back even then… is there a solution?”
The entire Republic of Korea, not only doctors but also all citizens, have paid huge social costs over the past 9 months, and I asked if we should somehow find a solution so that it does not go in vain.
His words softened a little, just a little.
“I thought there would be a solution even if the world collapsed, but I don’t know how it got to this point.
But, still… I have to try my best again.”
2024-10-26 00:19:00
#beauty #therapy.. #country #destroyed
