512 New Public Health Doctors Early Deployed to COVID-19 Response Sites

On the 22nd, medical staff are caring for a patient in the intensive care unit for severe COVID-19 cases at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, a dedicated COVID-19 hospital in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The government has assigned 512 newly recruited medical public health doctors this year to COVID-19 response duties.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters announced on the 16th, "To strengthen the COVID-19 response, we have completed the placement of 495 out of the 512 newly recruited medical public health doctors."

A total of 495 public health doctors, including 156 specialists, will be responsible for COVID-19 response and treating patients in vulnerable areas from today until December 12. The remaining 17 are confirmed COVID-19 cases and will start their duties after receiving separate job training on the 21st.

They have been assigned to 16 local governments, the Central Accident Response Headquarters bed allocation team, the National Mental Health Center, the National Rehabilitation Center, the National Gongju Hospital, the National Chuncheon Hospital, and correctional facilities.

New public health doctors usually undergo three weeks of military training before receiving central job training and being assigned to each province. However, this time, to address medical gaps and respond to the COVID-19 outbreak, they were deployed early. The newly deployed public health doctors will receive military training next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.