Presidential Office: "If Residents Do Not Return, Shift to Specialist-Centered Tertiary Hospitals from September"

"Even if Residents Do Not Return, Difficulties Will Gradually Ease"
"Suncheonhyang University Cheonan Hospital Disruption Not a Situation to Worry About"

On the 4th, when professors at Asan Medical Center in Seoul began reducing medical services, a patient was being transferred at Asan Medical Center in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Presidential Office stated that if residents continue to refuse to return to hospitals in protest against the increase in medical school admissions, they will push for a structural transition of tertiary hospitals to operate primarily with specialists rather than residents, possibly starting as early as September.

Regarding the suspension of emergency medical center operations at Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital in Cheonan, Chungnam, due to specialists resigning, the office explained that "this is not a case to be overly concerned about."

A Presidential Office official met with reporters at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the 16th and said about the collective resignation processing of non-returning residents, "We are giving the residents one last chance."

Previously, the government had set a policy to collectively process the resignations of residents who did not return by the 15th. However, out of approximately 13,000 residents nationwide, only about 1,000 have returned so far, while the remaining 12,000 have yet to return.

The official said, "Even if the intention to resign from residents is not confirmed precisely by the 15th, by the 17th, hospitals are required to submit how many residents they wish to recruit in the second half of the year. During this application process for desired numbers, the scale of the collective resignation processing for non-returning residents will likely be finalized."

The official added, "There have been residents willing to return but hesitant due to concerns about their affiliated institutions. I think during the second half recruitment process, they will apply to other hospitals without worrying about each other."

He continued, "Nevertheless, if the scale of returns is not significant, as announced last week by the Special Committee on Medical Reform, the major direction is to transition tertiary hospitals to a specialist-centered structure. We plan to accelerate this and launch a pilot project for structural transition of tertiary hospitals starting from September."

He further explained, "In that case, tertiary hospitals will shift their functions to focus on severe or rare diseases, and additional recruitment will be centered on specialists. Even if residents do not return in large numbers, the functions of tertiary hospitals will be maintained, gradually alleviating difficulties."

The Presidential Office official said, "However, if there are too many disruptions in manpower supply, it will greatly affect severe treatment and the public, so we have given residents this opportunity. We hope many will respond positively, and we are also persuading hospitals individually."

Regarding the operational disruption of the emergency medical center at Soonchunhyang University Hospital, the official said, "Upon checking, it appears that the system is not being transferred to other emergency medical systems or hospitals. It seems that some of the existing specialists moved to other hospitals, and during the process of hiring new specialists, conflicts arose between the hospital and the existing specialists over treatment conditions."

Earlier, Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital announced that from the day of the announcement until the 21st, the emergency medical center would operate on a reduced scale after four out of eight emergency medicine specialists submitted their resignations. The four specialists reportedly resigned in protest when the hospital attempted to invite a new professor amid increased workload due to resident departures.