Resigned trainee doctors have yet to show signs of returning to the medical field, but the government has begun to recruit new trainee doctors amid the prolonged healthcare crisis.

However, the medical community remains skeptical of the new recruitment, saying that only a few will apply for popular departments at the nation's five largest (Big Five) hospitals.

On Monday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Training Environment Evaluation Committee announced the “Implementation Plan for the 2025 Trainee Doctors (Interns and Residents) Employment Test.”

According to the plan, the recruitment schedule for the first year of residency will start with the announcement on Wednesday, and the written examination will be held until next Monday. The written test will be held on Dec. 15, followed by the interview (practical) test on Dec. 17 and 18, and the successful applicants will be announced on Dec. 19.

The government decided to recruit all at once, without distinguishing between the first and second half of the year, as it does not expect many applicants for this year's recruitment.

In addition, it will operate the second-major application system for the first-year resident selection. In 2025, applicants who fail the first choice of the same hospital will be selected for the second choice of internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and emergency medicine in the order of their grades.

Nine subjects are targeted for extensive fostering: family medicine, pathology, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, pediatrics, tuberculosis, and preventive medicine.

The recruitment of interns begins after the residency recruitment process ends. The application process will begin on Dec. 22 and 23 with a written examination, followed by an interview (practical test) on Dec. 24 and 27. The successful applicants will be announced on Dec. 31. Interns are also recruited in a lump sum.

The training professors predict that only a very small number of students will apply for this recruitment of junior doctors.

“We will start accepting applications from this week and close next Monday, but the situation is not good. It's not easy to accept applications,” a professor at a Seoul training hospital, initialized as just Professor A, said. “We don't know how many people will apply, as the ongoing medical crisis caused by the mass resignation of junior doctors is far from over.”

“Only a few people, including those who just finished their mandatory military service or who are older and can't put it off, will apply,” Professor A said. “Those who resigned in their first year may reapply, but at least it won't be the four essential departments of internal medicine, surgery, ob-gyn, or pediatrics.”

Other professors pointed out that if the recruitment of trainee doctors proceeds as it is now, it will eventually be limited to a small number of applications centered on the popular departments at the Big Five hospitals.

“Although there are only a few applicants if even 10 people come in, it is likely that they will apply for popular departments of the five largest hospitals,” a professor at another training hospital, initialized as just Professor B, said.

Professor B also expressed frustration with the government's unilateral implementation of medical policies.

“It seems as if the government tries to begin recruitment, and if it doesn't work, recruit additional applicants later. For training hospitals that used to accept medical residents in the latter half-year, the lump sum recruitment will be an embarrassment,” Professor B said.”

“The Ministry of Health and Welfare decides the selection of medical residents, but hospitals and academic societies do the actual work, so it would have been better if the government had discussed with hospitals and academic societies first, but it is frustrating that they are trying to select trainee doctors so abruptly and hastily,” he added.

Professor B acknowledged that professors are also hoping for trainee doctors to return. Still, they cannot help the government if the latter goes one-sided.

“We are trying to find a way to work with the government, but the government excluded us and announced it arbitrarily. The training professors can't help but feel like they're being stabbed in the back,” he said.

Nearly 90 percent of about 10,000 applicants for residency appointments this year have resigned and abandoned their training. Some 5,000 resigned doctors, half of those who left training hospitals, have been reemployed as general practitioners.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 4,640 of the 9,198 resigned doctors, or 50.4 percent, were reemployed as general practitioners as of Nov. 18. Only 1,073 trainee doctors worked at training hospitals, accounting for 10.3 percent of the total of 10,063 junior doctors.

That sharply increased the number of general practitioners.

According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), trainee doctors dropped by 86.4 percent this year, from 8,765 in the second quarter to 1,190 in the third quarter. In contrast, the number of general practitioners increased by 43 percent from 6,624 to 9,491 during the same period due to an increase in the number of resigned specialists who became general practitioners.