Trainee doctors’ application rate plummets to a devastating 0.8% for H2

In a word, annihilation.

The government expanded the recruitment of trainee doctors for the second half of 2024 to all specialties and years, but applicants were few and far between.

Almost all training hospitals, whether Big Five hospitals or smaller ones in and outside the Seoul metro region, failed to recruit trainee doctors for the second half-year. Even hospitals that tried to fill vacancies as usual without replacing resigned trainee doctors found no applicants.

Korea Biomedical Review checked the status of intern and resident applications at 47 top general hospitals on Wednesday, the deadline for second-half recruitment.

As a result, only 30 doctors applied for internships or residencies at 36 hospitals, excluding 11 others that have announced their non-disclosure policies. The 36 hospitals were looking to recruit 1,155 interns and 2,493 residents totaling 3,648. The application rate stood at a mere 0.8 percent.

Only nine hospitals had any applicants.

The Catholic University of Korea Central Medical Center had 14 applicants, Severance Hospital had six, Korea University Medicine had one, Inha University Hospital had one, Dankook University Hospital had four, Konyang University Hospital had one, GangNeung Asan Medical Center had one, Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital had 1, and Inje University Busan Paik Hospital had 1.

Catholic Medical Center announced that it would select 218 interns and 799 residents in the second half of this year's recruitment but had only 14 applicants. The senior courses (second to fourth year) of internal medicine and obstetrics and gynecology departments had one applicant each, the senior course of neurology, ophthalmology, and otolaryngology departments had two applicants each, the psychiatry department had one first-year applicant, the plastic surgery department had three first-year applicants and two senior-course applicants.

Catholic Medical Center recruits and trains doctors from eight affiliated hospitals, including Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Incheon St. Mary's Hospital, and St. Vincent's Hospital.

Severance Hospital announced the recruitment of 146 interns and 568 residents but had only five (three first-year and two senior) applicants.

Korea University Medicine sought to recruit 97 interns and 157 residents to train at its three hospitals in Anam, Guro, and Ansan. However, it had only one first-year applicant to its neurosurgery department.

Of the Big Five, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, and Asan Medical Center in Seoul chose not to disclose the results of their second-half recruitment.

Seoul National University Hospital announced it would recruit only 32 residents and 159 interns for the second half-year. Asan Medical Center sought to recruit only 131 interns and 312 senior residents, excluding first-year residents. Samsung Medical Center advertised for 123 interns and 379 residents. However, the number of applicants at these hospitals was also reportedly in the single digits.

Twenty-seven hospitals had no applicants. Among them were Kyungpook National University Hospital, Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital Bucheon, Ajou University Hospital, Yeungnam University Medical Center, Chungnam National University Hospital, and Hanyang University Hospital, had no applicant.

Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Pusan National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Hospital, and Jeonbuk National University Hospital posted only vacancies, as they did in the second half of the year, but could not fill them.