Last week, the university hospital in the metropolitan area stopped hospitalizing pediatrics due to a lack of medical staff.
Not only pediatricians but also doctors who directly deal with patients' lives, such as emergency surgery, are said to be far from enough.
Recently, professors are on duty at university hospitals to fill the gap in their majors. As the number of applications for surgery majors decreased by more than 20 years, the training period was reduced, but the application rate for next year was only 77%.
Poor conditions lead to patient damage. A patient in his 80s, who needed emergency surgery due to an aortic aneurysm rupture, delayed four hours because there was no cardiothoracic surgeon.
The average age of surgeons is 53 years old, the highest in all departments. I'm more worried about 10 years from now.
The chairman of the Korean Society of Surgeons said, "Because we are not treated properly, young doctors have no choice but to avoid it, but I don't think the avoidance phenomenon will be solved by emphasizing only a sense of duty." Surgeons in their 50s have no choice but to leave the scene in 10 years, and that's when there's really going to be a surgery mess."
The essential medical field is the national health safety net. Looking at the application rate of future specialists, it has fallen to 16% in pediatrics and adolescents, and only 60% in thoracic surgery and 79% in obstetrics and gynecology. In particular, there are more than 20 cardiothoracic surgeons nationwide. Usually, 20% of them give up halfway.
The reason for the lack of doctors in such essential areas is that these areas are as difficult, dangerous, and burdensome as dealing with life, but the cost is set at a low.
Double eyelid surgery, which is not covered by health insurance, costs from 900,000 won to 2 million won according to the surgery method.
For example, appendectomy is 300,000 won even if the additional rate of surgery is 20%. The cost of appendectomy in the United States is 880,000 won and Japan is 670,000 won, so essential medical sites are demanding adjustment of the cost.
Since there is little compensation for suffering, the existing specialists leave and do not support medical doctors.
Then, can the problem be solved if the compensation increases by adjusting the price?
Last week, the government came up with essential medical measures to streamline health insurance finances to compensate for holidays, nights, and high-level surgery. On the other hand, there are talks about increasing the number of doctors. So far, no fact-finding survey or research has been conducted to determine the root cause of the lack of public health personnel in Korea.
Along with the realization of the number of incentives, it seems necessary to efficiently "replace" existing professional personnel. The burden of responsibility for force majeure medical accidents is another reason for avoiding essential medical departments. The medical community is also demanding the introduction of a public compensation system for non-fault accidents.
I hope these problems will be resolved as soon as possible.
Writer: Yeyoung Jeon
(Picture from Unsplash)
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