ER Doctor Numbers In South Korea Plummet Over 40 Pct; 7 Hospitals Mull Partial Shutdown

SEOUL, Sept 12 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- The number of emergency room doctors fell more than 40 per cent in South Korea and seven hospitals are considering the partial suspension of emergency care services, a survey showed Thursday, Yonhap News Agency reported. 

According to a poll conducted by the National Medical Professors' Council, a total of 535 doctors had served at 53 major training hospitals across the nation combined as of Tuesday, down from 914 last year.

Of the currently serving doctors, only 33 were trainee doctors, compared with last year's 386, the survey showed.

A majority of trainee doctors have left their workplaces since February in protest of the government's plan to increase the medical school admissions quota by around 2,000 every year over the next five years to address the shortage of doctors.

Of the 53 hospitals, seven had fewer than five doctors assigned to ERs and they were forced to consider the partial shutdown of their emergency room operations due to staff shortage, the council said.

The situation was worse in non-Seoul areas, according to the survey.

In Seoul, emergency room doctors fell 39.2 per cent on-year, with the number of specialists going down 4 per cent. In the western city of Incheon, the total number of doctors shed 8.9 per cent on-year, but that of specialists, on the other hand, jumped 20.7 per cent.

But the central city of Daejeon and the Chungcheong Province saw the number of ER doctors sink 58 per cent, and the southern port city of Busan saw a 53.6 per cent fall.

The number of emergency room doctors in the southwestern city of Gwangju and the surrounding region also dived 51.2 per cent on-year.

"The survey illustrates well that the national emergency medical and health care system is collapsing, and non-Seoul areas were hit harder," a council official said.

Doctors have called on the government to revisit the quota hike decision from scratch, saying that the measure will not address the shortage of doctors in rural areas and essential healthcare fields, and it will compromise the quality of medical education and ultimately the country's medical services.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP