[News Today] Trainee doctors hesitate to return

[LEAD]
After medical students announced their return, trainee doctors are now reaching out to lawmakers to discuss the possibility of returning to hospitals. But many in essential, hard-to-fill specialties remain reluctant to return. Here are the details.

[REPORT]
The head of the trainee doctors' group has visited the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee to continue talks on resolving the conflict between the government and the medical community.

Expressing regret over the anxiety caused to patients and their families, he pledged to help rebuild essential healthcare services.

Han Sung-jun / Head, Korea Intern Resident Association
Improving training conditions, ensuring continuity, legal protection will be key foundations for the future of Korean healthcare.

Junior doctors from essential medical departments have been absent from training hospitals for one year and five months.

They say although it was their choice, they felt ashamed because of the so-called "trickle-down effect" of trying to increase the number of medical school graduates to make more doctors choose to work in essential medical specialties.

Kim Taek-soo / Resigned trainee cardiothoracic surgeon
The idea of maintaining vital medical care through the trickle-down effect severely hurts my self-esteem as a trainee doctor.

The number of essential health care trainee doctors who hesitate to return has surged lately.

In a trainee doctor group survey, those in essential fields were 7.5 times more likely to say they’d quit training entirely. Those who wanted to change their specialties was 16.4 times as high.

The primary reason they cited was legal pressure over malpractice.

Park Da-hee / Resigned trainee pediatrician
The legal risk is very high because what we do is directly related to patients' lives.

When asked about whether it's true that doctors opt for specialties that allow them to earn money easily, the respondents stressed the need to improve the relevant policies.

Hong Sung-min / Resigned trainee surgeon
We were demonized and it was devastating. Creating prime conditions for choosing essential health care specialties must come first.

The trainee doctors’ group plans to finalize its demands to the government at a general assembly on Saturday.

■ 제보하기
▷ 전화 : 02-781-1234, 4444
▷ 이메일 : kbs1234@kbs.co.kr
▷ 카카오톡 : 'KBS제보' 검색, 채널 추가
▷ 카카오 '마이뷰', 유튜브에서 KBS뉴스를 구독해주세요!

KBS