In the past month, after interns and residents walked out of hospitals in protest against the government's plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000, more than 500 cases of patient damages have been officially reported to a government support center.

Delayed surgeries accounted for the largest share, with 350, officials said on Monday.

These figures were confirmed at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters, which was presided over by Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong.

According to the headquarters, 1,414 damage consultations have been made by the "Support Center for Reporting Damages from Collective Action of Physicians” as of March 15, of which 509 were formally reported as damage cases. Of the 509 cases, 350 were due to surgeries.

Following surgery delays were 88 cases of canceled appointments, 48 cases of medical treatment refusal, and 23 cases of delayed hospitalization. Surgical specialties, such as surgery, orthopedics, cardiothoracic surgery, and neurosurgery departments, accounted for 39 percent of the total, with 197 cases.

"We are intensively managing the cases by linking them to local governments for on-site inspections and administrative guidance while referring those requiring on-site investigations to the immediate response team," the government said. "The Ministry of Health and Welfare has received 104 responses on handling referred cases from 11 cities and provinces."

Specifically, the government is supporting patients who have been notified of the indefinite postponement of surgery or who have repeatedly changed their medical appointments as much as possible to reschedule surgery or advance their medical appointments. As a result, in 15 cases, surgery and hospitalization were performed, and in four cases, surgery was scheduled.

"We also provided 85 administrative guidance to prevent violations of the law, including the refusal of medical treatment or failure to provide explanations," it said.

The government also provided legal counseling to 174 complainants who requested it. The total breaks down to 56 cases of compensation for test costs due to delayed surgery, 37 cases of fear of worsening illness, 14 cases of suspected medical malpractice, and seven cases of disruption of income activities.

"Recently, the number of cases received through the damage report and support center has decreased. In the first week of operation, from Feb. 19 to 23, the number of reports was the highest at an average of 45.4 per day, but from March 11 to 15, the reports decreased to an average of 13 per day," the headquarters said. "The government will continue to closely monitor the number of damage cases reported to the damage report support center to ensure that appropriate support is provided on time."

Currently, the number of inpatients in the intensive care units of all general hospitals, including tertiary general hospitals, is around 7,000, and the number of inpatients in the intensive care units of upper-level general hospitals is around 3,000, similar to normal, according to the headquarters.

Overall medical utilization in general hospitals, including hospitalizations and surgeries, has been declining since the departure of majors but has remained largely unchanged over the past four weeks. Inpatient admissions have been on a slight upward trend recently, it said.

The average number of daily inpatients at tertiary general hospitals decreased by 36.5 percent in the first week of March compared to the first week of February, but the number of inpatients in the second week of March recovered slightly, increasing by 3.1 percent.

The situation was similar in the five major metropolitan hospitals with a high dependence on specialties. The average daily inpatient volume decreased by 42 percent in the first week of March compared to the first week of February, but it recovered slightly by 3.8 percent in the second week of March. ICU admissions increased by 1.7 percent in the second week compared to the first week of March.

Inpatient admissions at general hospitals without medical residents increased by 9.5 percent in the second week of March compared to the first week of February, a normal week. As for emergency medical centers, 397 out of 408, or 97 percent, are operating without reducing beds. The second week of March saw a similar number of severe-emergency patients compared to the first week of March and a 1.5 percent decrease in moderate-emergency patients.

Currently, 52 of the 97 public hospitals have extended hours, and 12 military hospitals have opened their emergency departments to the public.

"The government will thoroughly maintain the emergency medical care system to protect people's lives in any case and will complete the healthcare reform as soon as possible with only the people's health in mind," Minister Cho said.