Regional Hospitals 'Empty'... To Ensure Effectiveness of the Regional Essential Doctor System [Essential Medical Solutions]

Current ‘Gongjungboheonjanghak System’ Similar
Scholarships Provided... Lack of Compulsory Measures Limits Attraction
Priority Should Be Expanding Emergency Medical Infrastructure in Vulnerable Areas
Simultaneous Measures Needed to Address University Deterioration

Editor's NoteThe medical crisis caused by the mass resignation of residents has entered its fifteenth day as of the 4th, yet the government and the medical community continue their standoff. There are divergent interpretations on both sides regarding the core policy of medical reform, the ‘solution to the avoidance of essential medical care.’ Opinions sharply differ on the effectiveness of the government’s ‘Essential Medical Care Package’ policy, proposed alongside the increase of medical school quotas by 2,000. In this article, we examine the three key issues related to the government’s essential medical care solutions?① Ban on Mixed Treatment ② Special Act on Medical Accident Handling ③ Regional Essential Doctor System?and also review examples of essential medical care policies in advanced countries.

[Series Order]

① Controlling the Expansion of Non-Reimbursable Expenses Worth 32 Trillion Won, Remaining Issues of the ‘Ban on Mixed Treatment’

② The Core Trigger, Special Act on Medical Accident Handling... Narrowing the Gap with Medical Stakeholders

③ Japan Has Focused on Measures and Solving Maldistribution Since the 1970s... Lessons for Korea

④ Concerns Over the ‘Closure’ of Seonam Medical School Repeating... To Ensure Effectiveness of the Regional Essential Doctor System

The government is promoting the introduction of a contract-based ‘Regional Essential Doctor System’ to secure medical personnel in local areas, but there are criticisms that the policy’s effectiveness is diminished due to poor working conditions and insufficient practical incentives or compensation. It is argued that expanding local medical infrastructure to attract doctors should be prioritized first for the Regional Essential Doctor System to be effective. The Regional Essential Doctor System is a program where students who receive scholarships, housing expenses, and training costs at the university admission stage commit to working in a designated region for a certain period after becoming doctors. It is a measure to prevent the collapse of regional medical services, involving long-term contracts with essential medical institutions in the area.

Professor Park Eun-cheol of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Yonsei University College of Medicine stated in an interview with this paper on the 7th, “It is necessary for local governments to assess the medical situation in their regions and provide targeted support based on that data. For example, if a budget is to be allocated to hire a pediatric emergency specialist at a hospital in a specific area lacking one, a monitoring system for pediatric emergency personnel in that region must first be established,” he suggested.

Lee Hyung-min, President of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine, also said, “The emergency medical infrastructure in vulnerable areas must be expanded first. Especially for emergency rooms operating 24/7, forcibly assigning unwilling personnel will prevent proper emergency medical services.” He emphasized that motivating doctors to work in emergency rooms of local hospitals through infrastructure improvements is the most important factor.

The government’s proposed Regional Essential Doctor System is similar to the current ‘Public Health Scholarship System,’ but its recruitment effect has been minimal, leading to skepticism about its effectiveness. The Public Health Scholarship System provides economic support such as scholarships to medical and nursing students from the government and local governments for a certain period, after which they are required to work at designated local public medical institutions for a minimum of 2 years and up to 5 years after obtaining their medical licenses. The service area is chosen by medical students from among the metropolitan local governments that have requested additional doctors from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Since the program’s implementation in 2019, only 52 out of every 100 medical school admission quotas nationwide have applied over five years, and most preferred service areas were in the Gyeonggi region.

Jeon Jin-han, Policy Director of the Health and Medical Organizations Coalition, pointed out, “The contract-based regional doctor system lacks enforceability and is insufficient as a measure to responsibly cultivate doctors who will serve in regional medical care.” Kim Seong-dal, Secretary-General of the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ), also argued, “Strong penalties such as revocation of medical licenses upon contract violation must be a prerequisite.”

There are also opinions that efforts to prevent the deterioration of local medical schools must be carried out in parallel to avoid precedents like the ‘Seonam Medical School Closure Incident.’ Seonam University College of Medicine in Namwon, Jeonbuk, which lacked an affiliated hospital and faced criticism for poor education quality, was closed in 2018 following the founder’s embezzlement of school funds. At that time, graduates and students of Seonam Medical School dispersed to Chonbuk National University College of Medicine and Wonkwang University College of Medicine for training and studies, causing significant social confusion and hardship.

Meanwhile, to concretize the resolution of medical reform tasks, the government will launch a preparatory task force (TF) for the Medical Reform Special Committee starting this week. Through this, it plans to promptly establish a presidential advisory Medical Reform Special Committee and prepare a detailed implementation roadmap for the Regional Essential Doctor System and other measures.

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