How Many Medical Personnel Are There in Gyeongnam Province?

2023 Provincial Doctor Survey Conducted

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] Gyeongsangnam-do will conduct a 'Full Survey of Medical Personnel' targeting doctors working in medical institutions within the province from the 25th to February 10th.

According to Gyeongsangnam-do on the 25th, this survey will be conducted together with the Gyeongsangnam-do Medical Association and the Gyeongsangnam-do Public Health Medical Support Group, targeting 5,908 people working in medical institutions within the province, including public health centers and branches.

According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service survey as of the end of October last year, excluding dentists and Korean medicine doctors, there are 5,726 doctors in the province, and 182 public health doctors.

Gyeongnam Provincial Government Office.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

The province explained that recently, due to the shortage of medical personnel, a gap in the provision of essential health care services between regions has occurred, causing difficulties for residents in accessing medical care.

To resolve this, since September last year, policy research has been underway to estimate the demand for medical personnel, including the establishment of new medical schools, and this survey is being conducted to build a database of doctors in the province.

The survey will be conducted online and offline with all doctors at a total of 2,050 medical and health institutions, including 26 general hospitals, 281 hospital-level institutions, 1,707 clinics, and 36 health institutions, covering 3 sections and a total of 26 questions.

The main contents include ▲ 17 questions on age, family, specialist qualifications, work and residential areas, work type, etc. ▲ 4 questions on the working environment of the medical institution ▲ 5 questions related to working in medically underserved areas.

To conduct the survey, the province plans to coordinate with the Medical Association to enable affiliated members to participate in the online survey, and to send official letters to non-member medical institutions and provide guidance and promotion through the provincial website banners and social networking services (SNS).

Lee Dowan, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau, said, “Our province is promoting the expansion of public hospitals, so for future expansion of medical personnel by medical service areas, it is necessary to establish short- and long-term policies. This survey will serve as a key indicator to prepare logical and valid grounds to prevent the outflow of medical personnel concentrated in the metropolitan area and to respond to the government’s policy to increase the number of doctors. We hope that cities, counties, and medical institutions will cooperate actively.”