Editorial: Korea’s medical impasse pushes ER rooms to the brink

A paramedic carries a patient to the emergency room of a hospital in Seoul, South Korea. / Yonhap

The emergency room at Chungbuk National University Hospital, the only emergency center in the region, was forced to shut down for an entire day on August 14 after two of the six emergency medicine specialists, commonly known as ER doctors, took sick leave amid the ongoing exodus of resident doctors. The medical impasse has been going on for seven months, even temporarily paralyzing the emergency room responsible for saving the lives of critically ill patients. Fortunately, no major incidents occurred during the shutdown, but the situation could have turned disastrous had a critically ill patient arrived.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare promised to deploy military doctors during such emergencies. However, when Chungbuk National University Hospital requested assistance, they were informed that no such doctors were available. This indicates that the medical vacuum is so severe that the absence of one ER doctor at a large hospital cannot be filled. At this rate, other large hospitals may soon face similar shutdowns.

Signs of this looming crisis are already evident. The pediatric emergency room at Ajou University Hospital is currently operating at a “reduced capacity” after two of its eight specialists left the hospital. Sejong Chungnam National University Hospital has also scaled back its emergency room services this month. Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital and Sokcho Medical Center in Gangwon Province have temporarily closed their emergency rooms.

The medical vacuum is getting worse because the prolonged walkouts of resident doctors are creating a vicious cycle where specialists, burdened with heavier workloads, are leaving the emergency rooms. While doctors may oppose the government’s plan to expand medical school quotas, abandoning emergency room patients who desperately need care is unethical at its core. The government must work with the medical community to establish a system that ensures doctors return to the emergency rooms as soon as possible so that essential medical services that safeguard public health remain operational.