Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Departments Leave University Hospitals... 2,757 Specialists Resigned from February to August

Assemblywoman Han Ji-a, "Increased Workload After Collective Resignation of Residents"

Since the collective resignation of residents who opposed the government's expansion of medical school quotas last February, it has been revealed that more than 2,700 specialists have left major university hospitals.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to data received by Han Jia, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee from the Ministry of Health and Welfare on the 21st, 2,757 specialists resigned from 88 training hospitals affiliated with 40 medical schools nationwide between February and August this year, an increase of 7.7% compared to 2,559 during the same period last year.

A specialist refers to a doctor who has obtained a medical license, completed a residency program, and acquired certification in a specific medical specialty. Within hospitals, attending physicians, clinical instructors, and professors are all considered specialists.

By specialty, internal medicine accounted for the largest number with 864 specialists, representing 31.3% of all resignations. Following were pediatrics with 194 specialists (7.0%), orthopedics with 185 specialists (6.7%), and surgery with 174 specialists (6.3%), among others.

Regionally, specialists who resigned from university hospitals located in Seoul accounted for half of the total with 1,381, followed by Gyeonggi with 491, Busan with 145, Daegu with 134, Incheon with 105, Gyeongnam with 87, and Gwangju with 67.

One of the main reasons specialists resigned is that as residents have left hospitals for over eight months, the workload burden on those remaining has increased significantly.

With specialists leaving hospitals following the residents, it is expected that the number of newly certified specialists next year will sharply decline. The number of residents eligible to take the specialist certification exam early next year is only 576, which is just 20.7% of the 2,782 candidates who took the exam this year.