Hapcheon County Launches Task Force to Minimize Medical Service Gaps Through Health Institution Reorganization

Mass Expiration of Public Health Doctors' Service Terms
Measures to Address Regional Medical Service Gaps

Hapcheon County in South Gyeongsang Province announced on February 2 that it has established its own "Hapcheon County Health Institution Medical Delivery System Reorganization Task Force Team" and held a meeting to minimize regional medical service gaps due to the expiration of public health doctors' service terms.

The task force team is led by the head of the public health center and consists of 24 working-level officials, including the director of health policy. As of April 2026, 17 out of a total of 26 public health doctors are scheduled to complete their service. This team was formed in response to the sharp decrease in public health doctors, which has made it difficult to maintain the existing health subcenter- and health clinic-centered medical supply system.

On-site photo of the task force meeting for the reorganization of the medical delivery system at Hapcheon County Health Institution.

The task force team operates with the goal of developing realistic and feasible plans to reorganize the medical delivery system tailored to the circumstances of Hapcheon County.

In the first meeting, participants shared their awareness of the issues caused by the concentration of public health doctors' service expirations and focused on setting the direction and scope of future discussions. In particular, there was a consensus that it is realistically impossible to assign a public health doctor to every health subcenter.

During the second meeting, more concrete measures were discussed based on the results of the first meeting. These included: implementing telemedicine consultations at health subcenters without public health doctors; operating a rotation system for health clinic directors between health subcenters and clinics; and introducing operational models that redefine the functions of health subcenters and health clinics. The focus was on minimizing gaps in medical services resulting from the expiration of public health doctors' terms.

Hapcheon County plans to maintain the task force team as a permanent body rather than a one-time discussion group. Based on the outcomes from the second meeting, the county will gradually promote reorganization plans for the medical delivery system in line with future recruitment of new public health doctors.

Director An Myeonggi of the public health center stated, "In the unavoidable situation of a decrease in public health doctors, we will do our utmost to develop practical alternatives that reflect feedback from the field, so that residents do not experience inconvenience or gaps in medical care."