'Big 5' Residents Share Drops from 40% to 5%... Total Number of Doctors Decreases by Over 30%

Plummeting to Less Than 10% of Previous Years

After residents opposed the government's policy to increase the number of medical students and left hospitals last February, the proportion of residents among all doctors at the Big 5 hospitals (Seoul St. Mary's, Samsung Seoul, Seoul Asan, Severance, Seoul National University Hospital) sharply declined.

Yonhap News

According to data received by Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the total number of residents at the Big 5 hospitals as of September this year is 238. These hospitals had 2,437 residents in 2022 and 2,742 in 2023.

However, due to the conflict between the medical community and the government, residents collectively resigned, reducing the number of residents at the Big 5 hospitals this year to less than 10% of previous years. With the decrease in residents, the total number of doctors at the Big 5 hospitals this year dropped to 4,463, a decrease of more than 30% compared to 6,591 in 2022 and 7,420 in 2023.

By hospital, Samsung Seoul Hospital had 525 residents last year but only 46 this year. Seoul National University Hospital decreased from 740 to 70, Severance Hospital from 612 to 49, Seoul Asan Hospital from 578 to 35, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital from 287 to 38. Accordingly, the proportion of residents, which accounted for around 40% of doctors at the Big 5 hospitals, also sharply dropped to around 5%.

Seoul National University Hospital had the highest resident ratio among the Big 5 hospitals at 46.2% last year, but it decreased to 7.5% this year. Samsung Seoul Hospital also sharply declined from 38.0% to 5.2%. Additionally, Severance Hospital's resident ratio dropped from 40.2% to 5.1%, Seoul Asan Hospital from 34.5% to 3.2%, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital from 33.5% to 6.4%.