The government has requested each training hospital to confirm by the 15th of this month whether the residents who have not returned will resign or come back, in order to finalize the demand for residents in the second half of the year, prompting hospitals to become busy.
According to the medical community on the 9th, major training hospitals, including the so-called 'Big 5,' have begun internal reviews on how to proceed after confirming the intentions of the residents, following the request from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The government asked each training hospital to process the residents' return or resignation by the 15th, as the recruitment schedule for residents in the second half of the year is set to begin around the 22nd, to confirm vacancies, and then to apply for the number of recruits for the second half to the Training Environment Evaluation Committee under the Minister of Health and Welfare by the 17th.
Accordingly, Seoul National University Hospital decided to confirm the residents' intentions according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare guidelines and proceed with consultations with relevant departments if necessary. Severance Hospital also planned to hold a meeting on the 10th with department heads to discuss current issues, and the Catholic Central Medical Center planned to discuss overall matters such as acceptance of resignation letters, processing procedures, and future training plans on the same day with representatives from eight training hospitals, including Seoul St. Mary's Hospital.
However, hospitals, which must finalize the residents' resignation or return within just over a week, have expressed complaints that this is practically difficult. Due to the tight schedule, they must immediately identify and contact the residents, but some residents have cut off contact entirely, making it difficult to ascertain everyone's intentions within a short period.
Furthermore, even if residents return, there is a high possibility of large-scale movement to metropolitan or large hospitals, causing significant concerns regarding the processing of resignation letters and future training plans.
The timing of accepting residents' resignation letters is also a challenging issue. The government’s principle is that the processing of resignation letters should only occur after February 4th, when the order to prohibit acceptance was lifted. On the other hand, residents argue that the resignation should be recognized from February, when they actually started submitting resignation letters. The recognition timing is a critical issue involving legal responsibilities such as violations of the Medical Service Act due to non-compliance with work commencement orders and financial matters like severance pay.
Although the government has stated that this may vary depending on the legal relationship between hospitals and individual residents and can be decided through mutual agreement, frontline hospitals complain, "There should be detailed guidelines, but such sensitive issues have been entirely left to individual hospitals."
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