Training Evaluation Committee Announces Recruitment Plan... Training Starts in September
Some Medical School Professors Also Declare 'Refusal to Educate'
Training hospitals nationwide have begun the process of recruiting 7,645 residents for the second half of the year by the end of this month. However, due to residents' lack of interest, the application rate is expected to be low, and some professors are even opposing accepting newly recruited residents as their trainees in the second half of the year.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the medical community on the 22nd, the Training Environment Evaluation Committee (Suphwi), a review body under the Ministry that decides on resident training matters, confirmed the recruitment number for the second half of the year at 7,645. By type, this includes 2,525 interns, 1,446 first-year residents, and 3,674 senior residents (2nd to 4th year).
This number is 62 fewer than the 7,707 applicants initially requested by training hospitals, but it generally accommodates all the additional personnel hospitals demanded. Accordingly, the recruitment of residents starting training from September will proceed from today until the 31st at each training hospital.
However, the medical community anticipates that only a very small number of residents will apply for the second half recruitment, and the actual number of hires by training hospitals may also be low. It is likely that residents who resign will choose to work at hospitals or clinics as general practitioners or enlist in the military rather than resume training in the second half.
Moreover, even if training hospitals announce recruitment numbers and proceed with hiring, if each clinical department refuses to accept new residents due to applicants' lack of qualifications or capabilities, it is difficult for hospitals to force professors to hire residents.
Among some professors, there is already an official 'boycott' movement regarding the recruitment and training of residents in the second half of the year. The Yonsei University College of Medicine Professors' Emergency Committee stated on the same day, "Under the current circumstances, we cannot accept them as our trainees and colleagues," adding, "We will leave the residents' positions vacant and support their return." Professors from the Department of Radiology at the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, which includes Seoul St. Mary's Hospital as a training hospital, also declared in a statement, "We will refuse to educate and guide residents who join in the second half," and "We express this to prevent innocent victims from applying based on incorrect information."
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