576 residents taking the specialty exam next year… 20% level this year |

As many residents (interns and residents) who left the hospital in February of this year chose to resign rather than return to teaching hospitals, the number of residents eligible to take the specialist qualification exam early next year is only 20% of this year’s level. As the number of new specialists plummets, concerns are growing that there will be a supply cliff for full-time doctors (fellows) who complete specialized specialties.

According to data received from the Ministry of Health and Welfare by Rep. Jeon Jin-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, on the 13th, the number of third- and fourth-year residents eligible to take the specialist exam early next year is 576. This is the addition of 553 residents who are in their last year of completion and 23 residents who are in their final year of completion and who returned from September among the 1,327 residents who did not leave the hospital after being appointed in March of this year.

Early this year, 2,782 people took the specialist exam, and 2,727 (98%) passed. However, even if all eligible residents take the exam and pass, the number of specialists produced will plummet by one-fifth.

When looking at the number of residents eligible to take the specialty exam by specialty, family medicine had the largest number with 96, followed by internal medicine with 91, orthopedics with 61, and psychiatry with 40. Subjects with fewer residents scheduled to complete the course included nuclear medicine with 2 residents and radiation oncology with 3 residents.

The cliff in the production of specialists is expected to be an even bigger blow to essential departments. In obstetrics and gynecology, the number of applicants for the specialist exam decreased sharply from 114 last year to 12 (10.5%). Neurosurgery is expected to decrease from 94 to 12 (12.8%), and pediatrics is expected to decrease from 132 to 26 (19.7%).

If the production of specialists decreases sharply, the number of applicants for full-time doctors next year will inevitably decrease. The director of a tertiary general hospital in the metropolitan area said, “This year, full-time doctors returned to fill the gap in the specialty to some extent, but we cannot expect even this next year,” and expressed concern that “the vein of specialized specialties may be cut off in the long term.”

Rep. Jeon said, “The medical gap that has continued since February will deepen into a full-scale medical collapse next year,” and added, “We need to open the way for legislative dialogue as soon as possible.”