Jeonnam Province Deploys 254 Public Health Doctors to Medically Underserved Areas

[Muan=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province announced on the 13th that it has assigned 254 newly appointed public health doctors working in public health services in medically underserved areas such as rural and fishing villages to 265 institutions within the province.

The newly assigned public health doctors, considering the severe COVID-19 situation, were exempted from military training and underwent COVID-19 diagnostic testing on the day of assignment to perform quarantine duties such as patient treatment and deployment to screening clinics.

Due to the introduction of medical graduate schools, an increase in military service completers and female students, and the Ministry of National Defense securing military doctors, the number of newly enrolled public health doctors nationwide is on a declining trend.

This year, compared to last year, the number of medical doctors decreased by 4, Korean medicine doctors by 1, and dentists increased by 5, resulting in no change in the total number of assigned personnel.

The reduced number of medical and Korean medicine public health doctors were primarily assigned to health institutions in medically underserved areas such as islands, while the increased number of dental public health doctors were additionally assigned at the health center level to carry out oral health projects and epidemiological investigation tasks.

By institution, 574 personnel (medical 281, dental 102, Korean medicine 191), accounting for 90%, were assigned to 226 health institutions.

Sixteen medical doctors were assigned to three regional medical centers, and eight personnel (medical 4, dental 2, Korean medicine 2) were assigned to public medical policy institutions such as hospital ships and epidemiological investigators, while 13 Korean medicine doctors were assigned to 13 public nursing hospitals.

Additionally, 26 personnel were assigned to regional emergency medical institutions to promptly respond to emergency patient care.

Kim Youngdu, Director of Health Promotion at Jeonnam Province, said, “We appreciate the hard work of public health doctors who have carried out quarantine duties on the front lines to prevent the recent spread of COVID-19,” and added, “Since Jeonnam has many medically underserved areas, the role of public health doctors is very important, so we ask them to share their accumulated experience and know-how with the residents with a heart of love and service.”