Doctor Shortage Crisis Spreads from Provinces to Public Healthcare in Capital Region

The difficulty in hiring doctors has extended beyond provincial areas to public medical facilities in the capital region. As the government's policies to expand public healthcare, such as the mandatory assignment of essential medical personnel, begin in earnest, finding a solution to the workforce shortage in local public medical institutions has become urgent.

Even in public health centers in Gunpo and Anyang, Gyeonggi Province—areas known for having many hospitals—treatment gaps are recurring due to an inability to recruit internists. While citizens consistently visit these centers for their proximity and low costs, securing doctors to provide treatment remains a significant challenge.

The internal medicine clinic at Gunpo City Health Center failed to hire a doctor even after a third recruitment announcement. The center has been trying to recruit a single doctor for its internal medicine department. In May of last year, general treatments were suspended for a month due to the failure to secure a doctor. Kim Sook-ja, a resident of Bongok-dong, expressed inconvenience caused by the doctor's month-long absence and stated that she hopes a doctor will be available without interruption.

The situation is similar in neighboring Anyang. Since the doctor at the Dongan-gu Health Center retired late last year after five years of service, the center tried to recruit a successor six times with adjusted conditions, but received zero applicants. Consequently, Anyang has hired two term-based doctors to continue treatments by dividing the days.

Compensation issues are cited as a reason for the difficulty in finding applicants. According to the Gunpo City Health Center recruitment notice, the starting salary is approximately 69 million won, equivalent to a Grade 5 civil servant, and can go up to the 83 million won range depending on experience. However, there is a significant gap compared to private medical institutions. Additionally, the fact that retired doctors serving as term-based civil servants may see an impact on their pension payouts acts as a stumbling block.

However, it is also difficult to maintain operations solely with term-based doctors. Internists at public health centers are responsible not only for treating patients but also for supervising overall medical activities within the center, including vaccinations, blood sampling, and X-rays. For this reason, local governments are striving to secure even term-based doctors.