Most national university hospitals, which are training facilities for national medical schools, are suffering from a shortage of doctors because they are unable to select doctors on time. It is pointed out that the absence of doctors in university hospitals not only causes the problem of poor public health care, but may also affect medical student training due to the increased number of medical school quotas in the future.
As a result of the analysis by Baek Seung-ah of the Democratic Party of Korea (National Assembly Education Committee) on the recruitment status of doctors (excluding medical residents) from national university hospitals over the past three years, 8,261 people were recruited over a total of 4,356 times from 2022 to the end of August 2024. An announcement was made to recruit doctors, but the total number of applicants was 4,089, and the application rate was only 49.5%.
Of these, 3,588 doctors were employed at the hospital, but only 1,963 doctors are currently working, showing that national university hospitals, which are having difficulty recruiting doctors, are suffering from a continuous shortage of doctors.
Gyeongsang National University (main hospital) posted a total of 280 announcements over the past three years, recruited 390 people, and only 73 people took the test, recording the lowest application rate (18.7%) among all national university hospitals. In addition, the application rate was low at 22.2% at Gyeongsang National University (branch), 24.4% at Kangwon National University Hospital, 26.5% at Jeju National University Hospital, and 28.8% at Chungnam National University. The hospital with the highest application rate was Seoul National University Hospital (Main Hospital), with 1,412 people taking the test out of 591 public announcements to recruit 1,910 people, recording an application rate of 73.9%.
Except for the National University Hospitals located in Seoul (main hospital, branch hospitals), Busan (main hospital), Jeonnam, and Jeonbuk, the national university hospitals located in Gangwon, Gyeongnam, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, South Chungcheong, and North Chungcheong all had examination rates of less than 50%.
Currently, the number of doctors in all national university hospitals is 4,821, which is only 51.7% of the quota (9,333). Currently, most of the residents at the National University Hospital have resigned, so even if we subtract the number of residents from the number of doctors, there are a total of 5,638 people and 4,430 current residents, which is an 85.54% rate of securing seats.
It is pointed out that the low rate of securing doctors at national university hospitals and the chronic difficulty in recruiting doctors will inevitably have an impact not only on the immediate problem of poor local public healthcare, but also on the training of medical students, which will increase in the future.
Faculty doctors at national university hospitals are experts who combine education, research, and treatment. They not only provide patient care, but also educate and guide medical students, residents, and full-time doctors so that they can gain practical clinical experience in the field. However, in a situation where there is a shortage of doctors at teaching hospitals, the interpretation is that trainees who graduated from medical school will remain at local national university hospitals.
According to an analysis of the employment status of medical school graduates across the country announced by Rep. Baek Seung-ah last July, the employment rate in the metropolitan area among all medical school graduates was 58.4% over the past five years, confirming that a significant number of local medical school graduates are moving to the metropolitan area immediately after graduation. There is a bar.
Rep. Baek Seung-ah criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol government’s inaction in increasing the number of medical school students, saying, “If we leave it like this, no matter how much we increase the number of medical students, they may all graduate from local medical schools and leave rather than remain at university hospitals.”
He went on to explain, “It is essential to prepare specific measures to not only support national university hospitals so that capable medical staff can remain at national university hospitals, but also to resolve regional medical gaps and secure essential medical care.”
▲ⓒDemocratic Party of Korea Rep. Baek Seung-ah
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