Kyoohong Cho "Under No Circumstances Should Citizens' Lives Be Threatened... Strengthening Emergency Medical Systems"

Shortened Clinic and Hospital Professor Hours from the 1st
"Additional Dispatch of Public Health Doctors Planned"

As medical school professors and private practitioners decided to shorten their consultation hours starting from the 1st, the government has stepped up efforts to strengthen the emergency medical care system.

Cho Kyu-hong, Minister of Health and Welfare, held a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for doctors' collective action at the Government Complex Sejong on the morning of the same day, stating, "Unfortunately, the nationwide medical school professors' emergency committee announced that they will reduce consultation hours to 52 hours per week starting in April, and the Medical Association has declared that private practitioners will also shorten their consultation hours to 40 hours per week," adding, "Under no circumstances should the lives of the people be threatened, and nothing is more important than treating severe and emergency patients."

He continued, "The government will more closely monitor the operation status of intensive care units and emergency rooms and further strengthen the emergency medical care system."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

He explained, "First, we will mobilize the available personnel to the maximum extent within the current emergency medical care system," adding, "We have dispatched a total of 413 doctors, including public health doctors, in three rounds, and will promote additional dispatches considering the demand."

Additionally, the government plans to support the operation of a personnel pool to newly hire senior doctors or continue employing doctors who are about to retire.

Along with this, education and training will be provided to existing nursing staff so that hospitals can hire additional medical support nurses, and allowances will be supported. Currently, about 5,000 medical support nurses are active, and additional recruitment will be supported if necessary.

To strengthen the cooperation system between hospitals, the government designated 100 general hospitals linked with tertiary general hospitals as cooperative medical institutions, and on the 29th of last month, expanded this to 150 institutions considering specialized fields such as cancer, sharing medical capability information mutually.

Minister Cho said, "To prevent delays in surgery and treatment for severe cancer patients, dedicated counseling desks for cancer patients have been established at tertiary general hospitals and general hospitals, and a specialized cancer counseling center is operated at the National Cancer Center to provide thorough medical information."

He added, "We will continuously monitor the reduction and withdrawal status of professors' consultation hours and prepare additional emergency medical measures," urging the medical community, "The government's willingness to dialogue remains unchanged. We ask medical school professors to withdraw their collective resignation and residents to return to hospitals."

He continued, "We hope the Medical Association will withdraw extreme claims that are out of step with public expectations and work to create a dialogue atmosphere," adding, "Considering the desperate feelings of patients and families whose lives are at stake, we hope the medical community will promptly establish a representative dialogue channel."

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