2024-02-23 12:00:20
yunhap news
“As the imbalance within medical care becomes more severe, problems are occurring in the supply and demand of doctors and their distribution. Overall, there is a mismatch between supply and demand.” Demand is rapidly increasing due to aging, etc., but supply is limited, making the imbalance more serious. (For example) there are long waiting times at large hospitals, ‘patient villages’, and ‘emergency room rushes’.”(Park Min-soo, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare)
“In the UK, it takes a week or several months (to receive treatment following making an appointment), so there is some talk that the number of deaths exceeds 90,000. I would like to tell you that in our country there is no such thing as long waiting times or not being able to see a specialist on the same day. “The most important thing is whether our people feel, ‘Are there any symptoms that appear when there is a shortage of doctors?’ If you look back, I think you will feel that there really is a shortage of doctors.”(Kim Taek-woo, Chairman of the Emergency Response Committee of the Korean Medical Association)
As the conflict between the government and the medical community intensifies over the increase in the number of medical school students by 2,000, representatives of both sides held an open discussion on the expansion of medical schools and the ‘essential medical policy package’.
Park Min-soo, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, and Kim Taek-woo, Chairman of the Emergency Response Committee of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), appeared on a special live broadcast of KBS 1TV’s current affairs program ‘Cases’ on the followingnoon of the 23rd. Previously, in MBC’s ‘100 Minutes Debate’ broadcast on the 20th, Yoo Jeong-min, head of the Central Accident Control Headquarters’ Strategy Team, and Lee Dong-wook, head of the Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Association, shared opinions on the same topic, but this was the first time that the head level, who can be said to be ‘responsible’, met directly. This is my first time.
However, like the ‘Medical Issues Consultative Body’, which was held in parallel, although it was held 28 times from the beginning of last year to the beginning of this month, the differences in opinions between medicine and government were hardly narrowed.
Second Vice Minister Park said, “I would like to start by saying that our country’s medical system has now reached its limits and is beginning to expose its problems.” On the one hand, private doctors and others are earning enormous income due to the expansion of non-benefit markets such as beauty and plastic surgery, while local hospitals are facing a ‘serious recruitment problem’.I pointed out.
Other reasons included local essential medical staff who suffer from frequent on-call duties due to a lack of manpower and who live lives with no privacy to the point where they have never been to their children’s graduation ceremonies, and PA (Physician Assistant) nurses, which were created regarding 10 years ago and are growing every year.
Second Vice Minister Park said, “As seen in the last ‘Nursing Act incident’, conflicts over the work area (‘Is it the doctor’s work or the nurse’s work?’) have arisen, and this is a phenomenon that ultimately appeared due to the shortage of doctors in hospitals.” “Over the past 10 years, the number of active doctors has increased by regarding 23%, and while the number of doctors in private practice has increased by 3.8%, the number of employed doctors has increased by 1.4%,” he said.
Then, Chairman Kim responded, “If you look at most of the government’s announcements or what scholars are talking regarding, it seems like they are only talking regarding the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard numbers.”
According to OECD statistics, as of 2021, the number of doctors per 1,000 people in Korea is 2.6, which is far below the OECD average (3.7), refuting the government’s rationale for increasing the number of doctors.
Chairman Kim said, “There are areas where each country’s medical security system and system are clearly different, but without discussing such areas, they suddenly say ‘there is a shortage of (doctors)’ compared to the number of doctors per population allowance.” He added, “Sweden is (per population) ) There are a lot of doctors, but it is difficult to find doctors who can teach you how to give birth in a car. However, in our country, (pregnant women) can visit a nearby hospital at any time and (give birth).”
He continued, “It is true that there are a bit too many openings, and there are some shortages of public officials or essential medical workers,” but “when we start discussing why there is a shortage, I think the answer may come not from the ‘shortage of doctors’ problem, but from Korea’s medical system and the reasons for avoiding essential medical departments.I looked at him and said, “I will do it.”
Kim Taek-woo, chairman of the emergency response committee of the Korean Medical Association, is holding a press conference at the Korean Medical Association in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the followingnoon of the 14th to block the government’s increase in medical school capacity. Reporter Park Jong-min
Views were also divided on reports supporting the government’s plan to increase the number of doctors to 10,000 by 2035. The government cited future doctor manpower estimates from Seoul National University, the Korea Development Institute (KDI), and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, and suggested that there would be a shortage of regarding 10,000 doctors in 10 years.
Chairman Kim said, “The reports seem to have predicted long-term trends. However, people are currently showing many indicators of a much healthier life than in the past.” He added, “This is because Korea uses medical care regarding three times more than other countries.” “If we reduce the number of cases, the conclusion will be that the number of doctors should be reduced rather than increased by 10,000,” he said.
He went on to say, “Due to the development of AI (artificial intelligence) in the future, one or two people will be able to do medical work that would otherwise take ten people,” predicting that technological advancements will lead to a decrease in the number of outpatient visits. Chairman Kim said, “In a situation where we don’t know how diagnosis and treatment will change in 10 years, there are doubts regarding the results of the report, which has many loopholes.”
Regarding this, Second Vice Minister Park said, “This is a study conducted by Korea’s top researchers, and a wide variety of scenarios are applied.” He added, “We (rather) looked at the (results) very conservatively, so the commonality of ‘10,000 shortfall’ came out.” He said. He also added that additional analysis showed that there are currently a shortage of 5,000 doctors, especially in medically vulnerable areas.
Regarding Chairman Kim’s claim that AI will bring regarding work efficiency, he said, “Now that AI has been introduced, we can diagnose more quickly than in the past. However, basically, the time required for surgery and diagnosis will be reduced from 100 to 50 or 20. “It cannot be drastically lowered,” he dismissed. The idea is that technological innovation is only a supplement and cannot be a fundamental alternative to the ‘doctor shortage’.
Regarding the discussion process, Chairman Kim said, “The talk of ‘2,000 people’ has never come up in the consultative body,” and “If an increase in personnel is really needed, an estimation committee, etc. should be created and discussed to determine the exact number (calculation),” while Park said, The 2nd Vice Minister “There are so many different factors that must be considered before making the final decision, so you can’t just bargain with the medical community, saying, ‘Do you want to get 2,000?’ or ‘Should I reduce it to 1,000?’”He countered.
In addition, Chairman Kim pointed out that “the biggest obstacle to these negotiations is that (the government) cannot give even a single step in the medical school quota of 2,000 (increase),” and Second Vice Minister Park said, “The longer (the increase) is delayed, the more it will be delayed.” “The scale is bound to increase. If we reduce it once more or say, ‘Let’s discuss it once more from zero base,’ the shock will be greater later,” showing a gap in perception.
Park Min-soo, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, is holding a regular briefing at the Doctors’ Collective Action Central Accident Control Headquarters at the Seoul Government Complex on the morning of the 15th. Reporter Park Jong-min
The two sides also failed to find common ground regarding the medical gap caused by the ‘mass resignation’ of medical residents. Chairman Kim judged, “The fact that the medical system is collapsing just because the residents left means there is a problem with government policy,” and Second Vice Minister Park criticized collective action, saying, “When a policy is announced, they start by ‘exercising their power.’”
Meanwhile, a group of medical students who are submitting leave of absence reports one following another also participated in the debate. Kim Geon-min, emergency chairperson of the Korean University of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine Student Association, spoke via phone. “(Medical students) felt so deprived and skeptical that it was difficult to continue their studies.”He reaffirmed his opposition to increasing the number of medical schools.
He also claimed, “These students have pledged to live for others as a career for the rest of their lives before they even become adults, and their decision to leave the classroom and hospital is a choice to protect their noble dreams.”
Residents who took collective action in protest once morest the government’s policy to increase the number of medical schools are waiting for the start of the 2024 emergency extraordinary general meeting of the Korean Medical Residents Association, held at the Korean Medical Association Hall in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 20th. Reporter Park Jong-min
Patient groups believe that both the government and the medical community are responsible for causing the current situation. Ahn Seon-young, director of the Severe Illness Patients Association, said, “Patient guardians are currently unable to sleep due to signs of prolongation.” “Both the government and the medical association abandoned the patients.”He expressed his anger. The issue was also raised in the discussion that day, which was conducted without the patients, who were the biggest victims.
Director Ahn responded to the medical school association’s remarks. “Not only do doctors stay up all night studying, have passion, and choose their profession with morality. Everyone works hard with their own calling and sense of mission.”He also pointed out that This was pointed out in the sense that doctors are not the only profession engaged in a special sense of duty.
Second Vice Minister Park said, “I feel truly sorry. It is difficult for high-level hospitals to not be able to see patients due to residents leaving the field, but the government will make its best efforts to resolve this problem as soon as possible.” .
Chairman Kim said, “The Korean Medical Association is an organization that always strives to protect the health of the people,” and added, “I think it is really unfortunate that individuals have made this choice because there is no way to voice our voices regarding this government policy.”
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