Gov't boosts hospital staffing, incentives for essential medical fields

As staffing shortages in hospitals are expected to worsen due to medical professors’ resignations, the government on Monday decided to dispatch additional health workers and incentivize doctors in essential medical fields.

Doctors' gowns are piled on a desk as medical professors of Wonkwang University Hospital in North Jeolla return their gowns following their resignation submissions on Monday. [NEWS1]

As staffing shortages in hospitals are expected to worsen due to medical professors’ resignations, the government on Monday decided to dispatch additional health workers and incentivize doctors in essential medical fields.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said the ministry will “closely monitor” how treatments are delivered in each hospital “to prevent a situation where patients are adversely affected by hospitals’ shutdown or medical professors’ resignations” during a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting .

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said on the same day that the ministry is "reviewing the means to dispatch [another batch of] military physicians."

As of April 22, a total of 396 military doctors are treating civilians at general hospitals nationwide.

Health Minister Cho underlined that “the government has enforced an emergency treatment system by prioritizing patient care for those who are critically ill and in an emergency.”

He also addressed that national authorities "have utilized various policy tools to prevent on-duty medics from reeling [from overwork]."

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong presides over a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting on Monday at Sejong Government Complex in Sejong. [YONHAP]

Cho also promised to double the compensation for doctors performing stent implantation on cardiac patients.

Stent implantation, an emergency operation that expands a narrowed artery by placing a stent inside it, plays a significant role in saving patients suffering from a heart attack.

The recent measure is in line with the government’s medical reform aiming to bolster essential medical fields like high-risk surgeries and emergency treatments.

The current compensation scheme only acknowledges stent implantation in up to two arteries. The upcoming revised system will consider every artery that has stents when calculating compensation, allowing doctors to get paid for up to all four heart arteries.

Cho stressed that society will “take doctors’ voices more seriously and heavily when junior doctors return to hospitals and medical professors serve their duties at the health care front lines.”

The minister invited the doctors’ group to a dialogue that "intends to improve and innovate the Korean medical industry." He said doctors should “participate in a discourse with the government, rather than insist on abolishing the admissions hike plan in medical schools.”

The government will adjust the scope of “emergency operation” to ensure proper compensation can be awarded to emergency medicine doctors and medics who frequently perform emergency care during overnight shifts.

A presidential special committee for medical reform, which held its inaugural meeting last Thursday, is set to hold its second meeting this week.

A black-colored face mask with a message saying ″No medical schools recruitment quota hike″ is placed on a table at a general assembly of the Korean Medical Association which was held in southern Seoul on Sunday. [YONHAP]

Neither the country’s largest doctors’ group, Korean Medical Association (KMA), nor a junior doctors’ representative body, Korean Intern Resident Association, have joined the committee as of Monday.

On Monday, Second Health Vice Minister Park turned down the KMA’s condition to participate in dialogue. The doctors' group had asked to triple the doctors’ seats inside the committee from six to 18.

Of the committee’s total of 27 seats, 10 are reserved for doctors and health care providers including nurses, dentists and oriental medicine doctors. Patients and medical service consumers take five seats, and finance, legal and medical experts also have five seats. Six senior-level governmental officials have seats in the committee, and the remaining seat is for the committee's chairperson.

In the strictest sense, there are six incumbent doctors who are not affiliated with the government — five from the health care provider bracket and one from the expert category.

Park explained that rejecting the KMA's request comes from the decision-making nature of the committee. The larger number of doctors would not grant doctors more authority, as the “committee does not have a majority-voting system.”

He added that the committee was not created to reach a resolution that overpowers different representative groups, but “to reach a consensus.” The ministry pictures the committee as a "social consultative body discussing the health agenda and crafting blueprints."

Park’s additional remarks implied there was no issue in fairly representing doctors’ voices in the committee.

“Health care suppliers account for more than half of the committee [when including the chairperson, health care providers and three medical professionals from the expert category],” Park said.

Additionally, punishments such as license suspensions on junior doctors who staged walkouts since late February and disobeyed the authorities’ back-to-work orders have been "put on hold," according to the Health Ministry on Monday.

A vacant hallway inside a medical school in greater Seoul area on Monday [NEWS1]

Of 40 medical schools nationwide, 32 schools have finally commenced their spring semesters as of Monday, after having a nearly two month delay in their academic calendar. The remaining eight schools have either pushed back their starting dates or left them undecided.

Most classes are being delivered virtually, and schools having in-person classes for clinical courses are seeing low student participation.

Medical students have boycotted classes to protest the government’s plan to increase medical schools' admissions quota since early March when the semester was supposed to start.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]