Specialist shortage looms as only 576 trainee doctors eligible for next year’s exam

Mass resignations of trainee doctors in protest of the government’s increase of the medical school enrollment quota will likely result in a plunge in the production of specialists.

This is because only 576 junior doctors are eligible to take the specialist licensing examination, which is scheduled to be held early next year.

According to data Rep. Jeon Jin-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea received from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 9,136 of the 10,463 trainee doctors employed in March this year have resigned. As of Sept. 30, only 1,327 junior doctors remained in training hospitals.

The data showed that of the 1,327 junior doctors, the final-year doctors eligible to sit for next year's specialist exam total 553. Even after adding the 23 final-year doctors recruited in September for the second half of the year, the total number of eligible doctors remains at just 576.

The number of candidates available for next year's specialist exam accounts for only 20.7 percent of the 2,782 trainee doctors who took the same exam earlier this year.

The 576 junior doctors set to complete their training span various specialties: family medicine (96), internal medicine (91), orthopedic surgery (61), psychiatry (40), and emergency medicine (33). Notably, fewer doctors applied for less popular fields like pediatrics and adolescent medicine (26), obstetrics and gynecology (12), and cardiovascular and thoracic surgery (6).

However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare says that even among the final-year specialists, the eligibility to take the next year's specialty examination may vary depending on whether or not each individual meets the training standards. In other words, the number of candidates may drop further, depending on whether or not the 576 specialists meet the training standards.

As of Sept. 30, 898 doctors were actually working at 100 training hospitals identified by the ministry, and 396 of them were scheduled to complete their final year of training.

The breakdown of these doctors by specialty was 63 in internal medicine, 47 in family medicine, 46 in orthopedic surgery, 30 in emergency medicine, and 25 in pediatrics and adolescence.

The actual number of doctors currently working may be higher, as the survey was limited to 100 training hospitals. The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Center for Collective Action of Doctors oversees the Health and Welfare Ministry’s monitoring of attendance at 100 training hospitals, while the Ministry of the Interior and Safety tracks attendance at an additional 111 hospitals.

“The medical vacancy that has been ongoing since February will intensify into a full-blown medical collapse next year,” Rep. Jeon said. “President Yoon Suk Yeol must admit the failure of his policies and dismiss those responsible as soon as possible.”