Large Hospital Referred Patients Increase by 17.2% Compared to Same Period Last Year

Some Hospitals See Approximately Threefold Increase

As the conflict between the government and medical professionals prolonged, the number of cases transferred from large hospitals to other medical institutions during the medical service gap period significantly increased compared to the same period last year.

On the afternoon of the 23rd of last month, amid ongoing legislative conflicts, paramedics were transporting a patient in front of the emergency room of a large hospital in downtown Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the 'Transfer Status by Tertiary Hospitals' submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Jin Sun-mi, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, from February to May during the doctors' collective action period, a total of 289,952 cases were transferred from tertiary hospitals to other hospitals, an increase of 17.2% (42,487 cases) compared to the same period last year (247,465 cases). The resignation of residents began on February 19-20, so part of the counting period was before the medical service gap incident.

Patients who visited tertiary hospitals were increasingly transferred to general hospitals, long-term care hospitals, and clinic-level medical institutions. The hospital with the highest number of transfers was Guro Hospital, affiliated with Korea University College of Medicine, with 13,030 transfers. This is 3.3 times the number during the same period last year (3,937 cases). At Busan National University Hospital, the number of transferred patients also increased 2.6 times compared to the same period last year, reaching 5,661 cases.

Representative Jin said, "Due to the unilateral policy of increasing medical school admissions by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the departure of residents occurred, causing an increase in patients being shuffled from one hospital to another."