Residents in Gyeongnam Province are joining collective actions such as submitting resignations in protest against the government's expansion of medical school quotas, while Gyeongnam Province is working hard to minimize medical service gaps.
According to Gyeongnam Province, as of 9 a.m. on the 20th, specialists at 8 out of 10 training hospitals in the province have consecutively submitted their resignation letters.
Among 39 specialists at Changwon Gyeongsang National University Hospital, 23 resigned; among 146 specialists at Jinju Gyeongsang National University Hospital, 121 resigned; among 163 specialists at Yangsan Pusan National University Hospital, 155 resigned; and among 99 specialists at Sungkyunkwan University Samsung Changwon Hospital, 71 resigned.
At Changwon Fatima Hospital, 10 out of 13 specialists resigned, and all specialists at Changwon Hanmaeum Hospital, Geoje Daewoo Hospital, and Masan Medical Center joined the collective action.
Gyeongnam Province is establishing and operating a medical system centered on full-time specialists to fill the medical service gaps caused by residents submitting resignations and stopping work.
They have secured duty schedules for major emergency medical institutions in advance to monitor operations and manage so that emergency room medical services are not interrupted.
The 24-hour operation of the Gyeongnam Province Emergency Medical Situation Room, which opened nationwide for the first time in December last year, will be further strengthened.
To prevent so-called emergency room overcrowding caused by medical staff stopping work, they are cooperating with other regions or public medical institutions under the Ministry of National Defense to select hospitals for emergency patients and coordinate transfers.
Gyeongnam Province will also expand the operating hours and medical services of public hospitals in the province.
Masan Medical Center plans to extend its consultation hours until 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and 12:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and the Navy Maritime Medical Center in Jinhae-gu, Changwon City, is preparing to open emergency medical services to civilians.
Information on open medical institutions is provided through the Emergency Medical Portal, website, and telephone counseling center (call center).
Under the special directive of the head of the Gyeongnam Fire Headquarters, patient grades will be strictly applied during ambulance transfers at the scene to prevent emergency room congestion by moving mild patients to secondary hospital-level medical institutions.
Personnel for hospital and pharmacy guidance will be increased, and additional reserve ambulances will be deployed in Jinju and Yangsan areas where many resignations have been submitted.
Gyeongnam Province announced that it held a meeting with city and county health center directors in the afternoon to discuss emergency medical measures and prepare for future situations.
A provincial official said, “Resident departures are occurring mainly at university hospitals,” and urged, “Please check your scheduled appointments first considering possible changes in consultation hours, and use nearby clinics or small hospitals for mild symptoms.”
He added, “To minimize medical service gaps caused by residents stopping work, we will expand the Emergency Medical Situation Room and implement emergency medical measures by supplementing the workforce.”
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