Ahn Cheol-soo: "Medical Service Gaps Unavoidable Until Early Next Year... The Greatest Victims Are the People"

Current State of the Medical Field: 'Baekcheokgandu' and 'Pungjeondeunghwa'

Ahn Cheol-soo, Member of the People Power Party [Photo by Yonhap News]

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo expressed concerns that a medical service gap will be unavoidable until early next year.

On the 30th, Ahn posted on his social media, "The government attempted to normalize general hospitals by processing the resignations of departing residents and recruiting additional applicants, but even the Big 5 hospitals are unable to find candidates," adding, "As a result, a medical service gap cannot be avoided until early next year."

He explained, "About 90% of medical students did not take this year's national medical licensing exam," and "This means that 90% of the 3,000 doctors who should be produced annually are at risk of disappearing."

Ahn warned, "The current situation will ultimately lead to the collapse of regional and essential medical services," and said, "If no new doctors are supplied, the absence of interns will overburden existing doctors, reduce public health doctors, paralyze regional medical care, and cause a shortage of military doctors."

Ahn raised criticism of the government's current response measures. He said that if the government continues to stall and respond with irrelevant measures, medical students and residents will not return. He also mentioned that specialists and professors who have been dedicating themselves to keeping hospitals running are resigning. He added, "The government says it will postpone academic schedules if medical students refuse classes and schedule additional exams if they refuse the medical licensing exam," and pointed out, "They say they will restructure hospitals centered on specialists if residents do not return, but without residents, specialists cannot be produced."

Ahn stated, "Such patchwork measures cannot resolve the medical crisis," and emphasized, "Since the greatest victims are the public, both the government and the medical community must prevent the collapse of the medical system." He continued, "The right to health and medical care when sick is a fundamental right of the people and above all an important livelihood issue," stressing, "The current state of the medical community is so serious that it can be described as 'on the edge of a cliff' and 'like a candle flickering in the wind.'" He added, "The ruling and opposition parties have no reason to engage in political strife over this issue," and urged, "As time is of the essence, I call for a prompt resolution to the medical crisis."

Meanwhile, the application deadline for the second half recruitment of residents at the Big 5 hospitals is on the 31st of this month, but due to the lack of applicants, disruptions are expected. Concerns are growing that the medical service gap in the second half of the year will be prolonged and that there will be setbacks in producing specialists next year.

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