'Essential Medical Care' Thoracic Surgery and Obstetrics & Gynecology Undersubscribed... Rehabilitation Medicine Tops Support List

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] Amid ongoing discussions on expanding essential medical services, it has been revealed that the shortage of essential medical specialties such as thoracic surgery continues.

On the 19th, Lee Jong-sung, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee from the People Power Party, analyzed data on residency application status by specialty submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The analysis showed that last year, specialties such as thoracic surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics had a shortage of residency applicants for the second consecutive year, while rehabilitation medicine, orthopedics, and dermatology ranked high in application rates.

The number of specialties with a shortage of applicants increased from 8 in 2017 to 10 last year. The specialties with shortages last year included nuclear medicine, pediatrics, pathology, thoracic surgery, radiation oncology, family medicine, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery, and laboratory medicine.

According to Representative Lee, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has implemented support policies to secure essential specialties. For example, in thoracic surgery, to increase the number of specialists, the health insurance fee was raised by 100%, and more than 30% of the additional amount was supported. The amounts supported through additional fees were 27.9 billion KRW in 2017, 34.8 billion KRW in 2018, 38.6 billion KRW in 2019, and 47.9 billion KRW in 2020. Other policies included training assistant allowances and support for short-term overseas training for residents.

However, thoracic surgery has continuously experienced application rates of 50-60% from 2017 through last year, resulting in shortages. Obstetrics and gynecology turned to shortages starting in 2018. Pediatrics began to experience shortages in 2020 with an application rate of 78.5%, and last year the rate dropped by more than half to 37.3%, ranking among the lowest across all specialties.

Representative Lee pointed out that a bigger problem is that doctors who became specialists after completing residency in essential specialties often work in other fields, leading to an even greater shortage of medical personnel in essential specialties. As of last year, among 1,322 thoracic surgery specialists, only 837 were working in thoracic surgery (780 at hospital level or higher, and 57 at clinic level thoracic surgery practices). The remaining specialists are presumed to have opened practices in other specialties or are working as pay doctors. Pediatrics and obstetrics and gynecology face similar situations.

While essential specialties face shortages, popular specialties continue to experience concentration of applicants. Last year, the specialty with the highest residency application rate was rehabilitation medicine at 202.0%. This was followed by orthopedics (186.9%), dermatology (184.1%), plastic surgery (180.6%), radiology (157.2%), and ophthalmology (150.5%).

Representative Lee said, "Investment in human and material resources should be made so that medical professionals want to enter these specialties, and support should be aligned with actual demand." He added, "Especially in surgical fields where medical accidents are frequent, the government should consider expanding support measures."

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