[The Editors' Verdict] Yoon Administration's Public Healthcare Under Suspicion

Seoul National University Hospital is conducting a re-application process for the hospital director position. On the 18th, they announced an open recruitment notice, received related documents, and planned to proceed with interviews and other schedules. The Seoul National University Hospital director position was previously open for recruitment once last August. After screening five candidates, Professors Park and Jung were selected as the final candidates and recommended to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education then submitted the two candidates to the Presidential Office. However, the Presidential Office rejected them, leading to the current re-application process. Since May last year, Kim Yeon-su, who completed a three-year term, has been serving as the hospital director for over eight months. There are talks that the appointment will reflect the intentions of the Presidential Office. In the '2022 Public Institution Comprehensive Integrity Evaluation' announced by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, Seoul National University Hospital was the only public medical institution to receive the lowest grade, level 5.

The vacancy of the director position is not limited to this hospital. The director of Busan National University Hospital was vacant for about a year since April last year, but recently Professor Jung Sung-woon of the Thoracic Surgery Department received an appointment notice from the Ministry of Education. He is scheduled to take office in February. Director Jung previously served as deputy director and acted as hospital director for over 10 months. Chungnam National University Hospital and Jeju National University Hospital are also under acting director systems. Typically, hospital directors are appointed through an open recruitment process several months before the end of their term, followed by recommendations from the board of directors, submission by the Ministry of Education, approval by the Presidential Office, and appointment by the Ministry of Education. Although one might expect the Ministry of Health and Welfare to play a central role in selecting directors of national university hospitals, in reality, the Ministry of Education, which manages national funding, holds the key. The schedule may have been delayed due to the inauguration of the current Minister of Education, Lee Ju-ho, in November. However, considering the re-application process at Seoul National University Hospital and the prolonged vacancies at other hospitals, it reveals how the government views the leadership positions of national university hospitals.

The positions of standing auditors at national university hospitals have already been subject to parachute appointment controversies, similar to other public institutions. Most standing auditors at national university hospitals were appointed in 2021 during the Moon Jae-in administration. At that time, some positions remained vacant for extended periods due to personnel verification issues, and appointments were made regardless of expertise, including pro-government figures and those involved in presidential campaigns or transition teams. When their terms expire in 2024, it is expected that another round of politically motivated appointments and parachute controversies will arise.

Lee Jong-bae, a member of the People Power Party, proposed amendments to the National University Hospital Establishment Act in 2020 and 2021, requiring that national university hospital directors be appointed within one month from the date of recommendation by the board of directors, and if not, the reasons must be promptly notified to the board. The amendments also aimed to exclude senior officials from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Health and Welfare from ex officio board membership to prevent excessive intervention. However, due to opposition from government ministries, the 2020 proposal was discarded due to term expiration, and the 2021 proposal remains pending in the standing committee with low chances of passage.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance's significant budget cuts for the new construction and relocation of the National Medical Center (NMC) have sparked backlash from within the NMC, the medical community, and civil society. Critics argue that this goes against the intent of the late Lee Kun-hee, former chairman of Samsung, whose family donated 700 billion KRW to build a world-class infectious disease specialized hospital. The Ministry of Economy and Finance explained that the decision was made after comprehensively considering factors such as the oversupply of hospital beds within the medical service area, the low bed utilization rate at NMC, and the need to expand public healthcare. They plan to allocate 500 billion KRW of Samsung's donation to the central infectious disease hospital construction project and 200 billion KRW to the National Infectious Disease Research Institute under the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. However, the criticism that economic logic has overridden the 20-year-long aspiration to expand public healthcare remains strong. If the logic was insufficient, it should be strengthened; if flaws were revealed, they should be addressed. Only then can there be credibility and momentum for the greater upcoming challenges of health insurance reform and pension reform. Lee Kyung-ho, Head of Biohealth Department