Yeoju City Assigns Dedicated Physician to Public Health Center After 10 Years... Initiates Restoration of Public Healthcare

Yeoju City Public Health Center
Appoints Dedicated Physician After Years of Staffing Shortages
Junbeom Park to Oversee Internal Medicine Services Following Public Health Doctor Service

Yeoju City Public Health Center in Gyeonggi Province announced on May 27 that, starting from May 26, it has assigned a dedicated physician directly hired by the city to the health center to begin providing medical services.

Junbeom Park. Provided by Yeoju City

Since 2015, Yeoju City Public Health Center has continued its operations by relying on public health doctors, without having its own affiliated physician. The city has made several attempts to recruit a physician over the years; however, due to a shortage of medical professionals and a lack of applicants, a prolonged gap in medical services has persisted.

The physician newly hired for this role is Junbeom Park, who served as a public health doctor in Yeoju City from 2022 until April 2025. He was selected as the final candidate through an open recruitment for term-based public officials in April and will be responsible for internal medicine at Yeoju City Public Health Center.

Since 2022, the number of public health doctors specializing in medicine assigned nationwide has decreased, and as a result, the number allocated to Yeoju City has also dropped to one-quarter of its previous level. Consequently, some local health subcenters have had to suspend or reduce internal medicine services, making service gaps unavoidable.

With the recruitment of this dedicated physician, the public health doctors currently assigned to the health center can now be reassigned to township and village health subcenters. This is expected to strengthen the medical service functions of subcenters that had previously reduced their operations. In particular, it is anticipated to help alleviate inconveniences for residents in areas with limited access to healthcare.

A Yeoju City official stated, "The recruitment of this physician is expected to have a positive impact not only on restoring the functions of local health institutions but also on improving healthcare equity within the region," adding, "We will continue our efforts to strengthen citizen-centered public healthcare services in the future."