Despite the low mortality rate during the Covid-19 pandemic, South Korean media has been accumulating staggering statistics on deaths due to hospitalization barriers: since 2017, more than 3,750 patients have died because local hospitals refused to provide care. The parliamentary elections in South Korea are overshadowed by the discovery of a number of problems in the country's health care system, UNN reports with reference to Bloomberg and RFI.
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As parliamentary elections approach in South Korea, there is a growing debate about the healthcare situation. Local media reports indicate that healthcare in the country is seriously compromised, with stories of patients who died because they could not be hospitalised in time. According to a report by Chong Yusok, a professor of medical sciences at Dankuk University in Cheonan, more than 3,750 patients have died since 2017 simply because local hospitals refused to provide care.
Today, well-known medical centers in Seoul are overwhelmed with patients. The rest of the country is struggling with a shortage of doctors, as thousands of junior doctors quit their jobs in mid-February. Waiting rooms are overcrowded, and surgeries have to be postponed, according to media reports. The situation has been exacerbated by a six-week nationwide strike by nearly 13,000 residents and interns protesting a plan to increase enrollment in medical schools.
Bloomberg cites an example of a resident of the southern island of Jeju who suffered from esophageal cancer and flew to Bandung National University Hospital in Seoul for surgery in June 2023. Although he is supposed to have checkups every four weeks, it sometimes takes several months to get an appointment, the publication notes.
There is no doctor on this island who can treat esophageal cancer. In Seoul, everything is so concentrated
South Korean President Yun Suk-yol has vowed to solve the crisis. His conservative People's Power Party is now in power, and he is trying to regain dozens of seats held by his progressive rivals led by the Democratic Party. Yun Suk-yol has proposed measures such as increasing the number of doctors.
The doctors themselves oppose attempts to increase the number of doctors, arguing that the government's proposal to increase recruitment by 2,000 places per year from the current 3,058 does not address the root problem. According to them, doctors in some critical areas covered by the country's National Health Insurance System are paid much less than outside specialists, especially those who perform cosmetic and aesthetic procedures.
The difference in compensation and infrastructure between Seoul and rural areas also means a shortage of medical professionals outside the capital.
As the parliamentary elections approach this Wednesday, April 10, the South Korean government is taking a more conciliatory attitude toward doctors. According to a Ministry of Health official on Monday, April 8, changes in the reform are not "physically" impossible. The government's position, which was previously firm, is becoming more flexible in the run-up to the election.
Recall
UNN reported that South Korean hospitals will extend working hours and allow for a complete switch to telemedicine servicesto cope with staff shortages caused by doctors' protests against planned healthcare reforms.
Almost half of Slovenia's doctors have agreed to withdraw their consent to work overtime, following a strike that lasted seven weeks. The move threatens to cause significant problems for the country's healthcare institutions.