Resident doctors who ultimately did not return... 10,000 face imminent 'mass resignation'

Most Did Not Respond by Government Return Deadline on the 15th
Some Hospitals Consider Postponing Resignation Processing

The government-set deadline of the 15th for accepting resignation letters has passed, and it appears that most residents have not expressed their intention to return to their training hospitals. As a large-scale resident resignation crisis becomes a reality, some hospitals are also considering postponing the processing of resident resignations.

According to major training hospitals, including the 'Big 5,' as of the 16th, only a very small number of residents have responded to requests to indicate their intention to return or resign, and no significant movement toward returning has been detected.

As of the 12th, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, only 1,111 out of 13,756 residents nationwide at 211 training hospitals?representing 8.1%?are currently working. If most of the residents who have not reported to work are processed as resigned, it would result in a mass resignation of over 10,000 residents.

It also seems unlikely that these resigned residents will apply for the second half of the year’s resident recruitment, which begins on the 22nd of this month. The government is encouraging returns by applying a special exemption to residents who resigned during training and apply for the second half recruitment, exempting them from the rule that prohibits returning to the same year and specialty within one year after resignation. Unlike previous years, when recruitment was limited to essential medical fields known as 'Naeoe Sanso' (Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics), recruitment this time will cover all specialties with vacancies. However, due to the residents’ cold response, there are growing concerns that the second half recruitment may also face disruptions.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

There is internal backlash against the plan of training hospitals to 'process all residents who have not clearly stated their intention to return or resign as resigned,' calling it an 'excessive measure.' The Korean Association of Medical School Professors and the Emergency Committee of the Korean Association of Medical School Professors have warned that unilaterally processing resignations without receiving responses from individual residents regarding their return or resignation will worsen the current situation.

Accordingly, some hospitals are considering postponing the processing of resident resignations, contrary to government policy. This concern arises particularly in national university hospitals and provincial university hospitals, where there is fear that residents processed as resigned might move to the metropolitan area.

Training hospitals must report the exact number of vacancies reflecting the number of resignations to the Training Environment Evaluation Committee under the direct jurisdiction of the Minister of Health and Welfare by the 17th, as requested by the government. Based on this, the government plans to determine the final scale of resident recruitment for the second half of the year.