Public Health Doctor Recruitment Rate Stands at 53% This Year... Concerns Over Gaps in Regional Healthcare

Only 738 Recruited Out of 1,387 Needed
Seo Myungok: "Critical Threat to Healthcare in Rural and Underserved Areas"

The government is facing difficulties in recruiting public health doctors, and this year, it has managed to fill only half of the required positions. Concerns are growing over potential gaps in healthcare services in rural and regional areas due to the shortage of public health doctors.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Assemblywoman Seo Myungok of the People Power Party, who is a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, the government requested 1,387 public health doctors from the Military Manpower Administration this year. However, only 738 new recruits have enlisted, resulting in a recruitment rate of just 53.2%. Although many residents who resigned last year due to conflicts between the medical community and the government joined the military, there is still a shortfall of nearly 650 compared to the demand.

The recruitment rate for public health doctors has been declining in recent years. In 2020, the ratio of recruited to required public health doctors was 89.4%, but it dropped to 87.4% in 2021, 78.2% in 2022, 74.6% in 2023, and further to 53.0% in 2024.

Public health doctors serve as the last line of defense for regional healthcare, working at local health subcenters in medically underserved areas. These health subcenters are smaller than public health centers and are established in towns and townships. Due to poor living conditions, few doctors volunteer for these positions, so most of the staff at health subcenters are public health doctors.

As it becomes increasingly difficult to recruit public health doctors, normal operations at these health subcenters are also becoming challenging. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “Status of Public Health Centers and Subcenters,” there were 1,337 health subcenters nationwide as of last year, but only 773 doctors were assigned to them. There were no doctors assigned to 227 of these subcenters.

Doctors working at health subcenters also provide mobile clinic services at 1,895 health clinics. This means that each public health doctor is responsible for three to four different health subcenters and clinics. As of last year, among 668 health subcenters outside metropolitan cities, 37 had to suspend medical services this year, and 122 reduced their service days to once a week or less, resulting in widespread operational disruptions.

The worsening shortage of public health doctors is mainly because more medical students are choosing to enlist as active-duty soldiers instead. Under the current military service system, male medical graduates who enter residency training (those subject to military duty) are incorporated as medical officer candidates and must serve as military doctors or public health doctors after completing their training. Once they begin their residency, they cannot choose to serve as regular soldiers, military doctors, or public health doctors, nor can they enlist as regular soldiers. For this reason, many medical students are opting to enlist as active-duty soldiers while still in school. According to the Korean Association of Public Health Doctors, 2,430 medical students enlisted as active-duty soldiers in the first half of this year alone, about 1.6 times the 1,537 who enlisted last year.

The main reason medical students avoid serving as public health doctors is the much longer service period. While active-duty soldiers in the Army serve for 18 months, public health doctors must serve for 37 to 38 months. The monthly salary for public health doctors assigned to regional health subcenters is 2.4 to 2.5 million won after tax, which is not significantly higher than the maximum 2.05 million won earned by sergeants. The number of public health doctors has decreased to about half of what it was in 2014, increasing the workload for each individual.

Assemblywoman Seo Myungok emphasized, "If it becomes impossible to secure public health doctors, there will inevitably be critical gaps in medical care for vulnerable areas such as rural communities," adding, "A fundamental reform of the system is necessary, including improving equity between public health doctors and regular soldiers."

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