Seoul City Invests 2.6 Billion KRW for Emergency Hiring of Medical Staff at Municipal Hospitals

Goal of 45 Staff at 3 Municipal Hospitals... Emergency Budget and Hiring Process Simplified
Preventing Burnout of On-site Specialists... "We Must Show the Value of Public Hospitals"

In preparation for the prolonged collective action by doctors, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will urgently hire medical staff at its affiliated municipal hospitals. Seoul City has also decided to inject emergency funds to support this effort. As the collective action by residents enters its second week and signs of overload appear in public hospitals such as municipal hospitals, Seoul City has unveiled plans for substitute personnel and financial support.

On the 26th, Seoul City announced that it will urgently allocate personnel expenses to recruit substitute staff, focusing on municipal hospitals with significant resident doctor shortages, and simplify the hiring procedures to support the emergency recruitment of medical personnel.

On the afternoon of the 24th (Saturday), Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon is inspecting the emergency medical system and countermeasures in response to the spread of collective action in the medical community with the directors of eight Seoul municipal hospitals, and discussing ways to minimize citizen damage due to the prolonged situation.
[Photo by Seoul City]

This budget support aims to prevent specialists currently working on the frontlines from being pushed into burnout due to excessive workloads and to ensure smooth hospital operations by urgently hiring on-duty doctors and inpatient care doctors. Initially, the goal is to recruit 45 medical staff at three municipal hospitals with resident doctor shortages: Seoul Medical Center, Boramae Hospital, and Eunpyeong Hospital. Depending on the situation, support will be provided for three months. The budget allocated is approximately 2.6 billion KRW from the Disaster Management Fund.

Considering that the health and medical disaster alert level is at the 'serious' stage, hospital directors will have the discretion to urgently hire necessary personnel, and the hiring process will be shortened. This will ensure that medical staff are hired as quickly as possible and deployed to the field immediately upon recruitment.

Earlier, on the weekend of the 24th, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon held an emergency meeting with the directors of eight municipal hospitals in Seoul, stating, "Municipal hospitals must demonstrate the value of public hospitals especially in difficult times," and promised to expand support at the city level. This meeting was convened to review Seoul City's emergency measures following the government's upgrade of the health and medical disaster alert to the highest level, 'serious,' due to the collective resignation of resident doctors. Seoul City is responding on-site through the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters and has entered emergency medical care mode targeting public medical institutions and health centers across the city.

However, limits are becoming apparent as patients flock to public hospitals operated by Seoul City, such as Seoul Medical Center. A representative from a public hospital said, "We are sharing information among hospitals and responding to severe patients, but the number of visits has sharply increased compared to usual as mild and non-emergency patients are also coming."

In response, Seoul City has also begun securing substitute personnel such as senior medical staff. Additionally, flexibility will be granted in managing medical staff quotas at each hospital to facilitate the acquisition of additional personnel. It is reported that during a closed-door meeting, the option of actively accepting non-emergency and long-term inpatients at Seoul municipal hospitals was also discussed if necessary.

Mayor Oh also emphasized the responsibility of public hospitals. He said, "Seoul City will provide its own support and immediately consult on matters requiring recommendations to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters," adding, "I hope everyone will work together with the mindset that 'many hands make light work,' effectively utilizing medical personnel to provide prompt treatment to patients and prepare response measures with the spirit of overcoming this together."

Meanwhile, among the 12 Seoul municipal hospitals, eight hospitals (Children's Hospital, Seobuk Hospital, Eunpyeong Hospital, Seoul Medical Center, Boramae Hospital, Dongbu Hospital, Bukbu Hospital, and Seonam Hospital) are currently extending weekday outpatient hours from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Furthermore, Seoul Medical Center, Boramae Hospital, Dongbu Hospital, and Seonam Hospital are operating their emergency rooms 24 hours without interruption even without resident doctors. Extended treatment hours are also being prepared for general patients at all 25 health centers in Seoul. The city plans to monitor the operational status and conditions of each hospital and share information closely with 119 emergency medical services to support smooth hospital transfers in case of emergencies. Kim Tae-hee, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Citizen Health Bureau, said, "If the doctors' collective action prolongs, patient harm will inevitably increase," and added, "Seoul City will spare no support for municipal hospitals to minimize inconvenience to patients and citizens and will do its best to reduce their discomfort."

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