Ministry of Health "Preparing for '85% Resident Doctor Attrition'... If Mild Patients Avoid 'Big 5' Hospitals, They Can Endure for Over 3 Weeks"

2020 Strike Participation Rate Highest at '85%' Reenactment Considered
Emergency Medical System Can Withstand Over 3 Weeks if 45% of Tertiary Hospital Patients Are Dispersed

The government has confirmed that it is preparing for a medical vacuum situation, considering that more than 8 out of 10 residents may leave their workplaces.

On the 21st, concerns over a medical crisis are growing due to the collective resignation and work stoppage of residents opposing the increase in medical school quotas. A notice about the shortage of medical staff is posted in the emergency room of a university hospital in downtown Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 23rd, Jeong Tongryeong, head of the Central Emergency Medical Situation Room at the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Central Accident Response Headquarters, told this newspaper in a phone interview, "We are preparing with the possibility that the resident departure rate this time could reach the highest level of 85% seen during the 2020 medical strike." He added, "I think the rate of residents leaving their workplaces could even exceed the maximum level in 2020," and said, "We will make every effort to minimize disruptions in medical care on the front lines."

The number of residents who refused to provide medical services during the 2020 medical strike, which opposed the increase in medical school admissions and the introduction of public medical schools, continued to rise as the strike went on. At that time, the Emergency Committee of the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) entered an indefinite strike starting August 21, following a general strike on August 7.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the non-working rate of residents on the first weekday of the strike, August 24, was 69.4%. It slightly decreased to 58.3% on the 25th, then increased to 68.8% on the 27th, 76% on the 28th, and 83.9% on the 31st. On September 2, the 13th day of the collective strike, 85.4% of all residents had left their workplaces. The medical vacuum situation, which seemed to be heading toward a crisis, was resolved on the 4th with the '9·4 Medical Agreement,' where the government effectively abandoned the plan to increase medical school admissions. The non-working rate of residents dropped to 72.8% on the 7th, and all residents returned to work from the 8th. This time, unlike in 2020, residents changed their method of protest from striking to submitting 'collective resignation letters,' but they have left the workplaces before their resignations were accepted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that if mild patients, who account for about 45% of all patients in tertiary hospitals excluding severe and emergency patients who make up about 55%, are dispersed to primary and secondary medical institutions, the emergency medical system's capacity to endure could extend beyond three weeks.

Jeong said, "If 45% of patients in tertiary hospitals move to other medical institutions, even tertiary hospitals that have lost residents will be very limited but manageable." He added, "Initially, we estimated that the emergency medical system could endure for 2 to 3 weeks, but if tertiary hospitals can focus only on severe and emergency care with cooperation from mild patients, it can last more than three weeks."

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