South Korea Denies ER Service Collapsed Due To Staff Shortage, Military Doctor Deployed

Illustration of health workers. (Unsplash / lcma1028)

South Korea's health ministry said on Monday it was deploying military doctors to help in several hospital emergency rooms due to a shortage of medical staff, but denied warnings from some doctors that the system was on the verge of collapse.

The strike of work of young doctors has increased pressure on the country's medical system. However, Deputy Health Minister Park Min-soo said, while several hospitals had shortened emergency room operating hours (UGD) and worked with fewer doctors, reports of several major hospitals having stopped ER operations were false.

"The overall emergency medical capacity is such that there are some difficulties, but it's not a situation where we have to worry about the collapse as some have warned," Park told a briefing.

The government plans to initially send 15 military doctors to a heavily affected emergency room, assigning 235 military doctors and community doctors to be rotated to a problematic hospital starting September 9, he said.

Earlier the national association of professors of medical schools said in a statement on Monday that many emergency rooms did not provide normal services and the collapse of the healthcare system had begun.

It is known that thousands of interns, including interns and resident doctors, went on strike in February to protest plans to increase the number of medical students by 2,000 per year, to fulfill what authorities project would be a severe shortage of doctors.

Hospitals relying on interns in various medical disciplines must refuse patients in the emergency room, citing staff shortages, while existing doctors are experiencing heavier workloads, the government said.

In addition, there are concerns specifically about the impact of the three-day fall holiday starting on September 16, which could put more pressure on ER operations. The government says it is preparing 4,000 local clinics and smaller hospitals that will be opened alternately during the holidays.