Jin Jinsook Calls for Government Measures Such as Shortening Public Health Doctor Service Period

Return of Resident Doctors...
Widening Polarization Between Regions and Specialties
Introducing a Regional Doctor System to Address Medical Gaps
Need for Regional Medical Schools and Public Medical Academies

Jin Jinsook, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea.

Jin Jinsook, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea representing Buk-gu Eul in Gwangju, argued at the party’s policy meeting on September 2 for the introduction of a regional doctor system and the establishment of regional medical schools and public medical academies. She emphasized the necessity of securing local and essential public healthcare personnel to resolve the polarization between regions and medical specialties in the context of resident doctors returning to work.

Jin stated, “The unilateral announcement by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to increase the medical school quota by 2,000 has led to ongoing conflict between the government and the medical community for the past year and seven months.” She added, “Since the launch of the Lee Jae-myung administration, trust has been restored through dialogue among the government, patient and consumer groups, and the medical community, leading to the return of medical students to their studies and resident doctors to their posts, signaling a resolution phase.”

She continued, “Resident doctors began returning to work on September 1, but in this process, signs of polarization have emerged between the Seoul metropolitan area and non-metropolitan regions, as well as between essential and popular specialties. While the recruitment rate at the five major hospitals in Seoul exceeds 70%, non-metropolitan areas are only at the 50 to 60 percent level, and in some essential medical departments, the return rate is so low that it can hardly be considered a return at all.”

She also pointed out, “Even in metropolitan hospitals, the recruitment rates for essential specialties such as emergency medicine, pediatrics, and thoracic surgery are lower than the overall average, raising concerns about potential gaps in medical care.”

In fact, according to the “2025 Second Half Resident Recruitment Results” released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on this day, the recruitment rate was 63% for training hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area and 53.5% for non-metropolitan areas. For essential medical specialties, the rate was 70.1%, while other popular specialties reached 88.4%.

Jin pointed out, “The results of the second half resident recruitment show that polarization between regions and between essential and popular specialties has intensified. In medically underserved regions such as rural and fishing communities, the recruitment rate for public health doctors is only 23%, signaling a full-fledged crisis in regional healthcare. This responsibility lies squarely with former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s unilateral decision to increase the medical school quota.”

Jin also proposed, “For the sake of the people’s lives and safety, it is necessary to introduce a regional doctor system, establish regional medical schools and public medical academies to secure local and essential public healthcare personnel, and to implement government-level measures such as shortening the service period for public health doctors.”

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