Government self-praises healthcare reform, but medical community couldn’t care less

The government has positively evaluated the progress of its healthcare reform programs.

However, the medical community pointed out that the government should take responsibility for protracted healthcare turmoil before proceeding with its program.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently evaluated the progress of its healthcare reform programs. For instance, it classified 52 of the 104 detailed tasks (50 percent) of the essential healthcare policy package as “implemented tasks,” 37.5 percent as “tasks that have been outlined but not implemented,” and 12.5 percent as “tasks that are under internal discussion.

The ministry praised itself, noting that less than a year after its announcement, half of the essential healthcare policy package is already underway. The ongoing projects comprise 23 regarding increasing the medical workforce, 18 regarding fair rewards, and two regarding the medical error safety net.

Despite the government's self-praise, the medical community reacted negatively to the progress in healthcare reform, saying there were no realistic policies.

“The government is not interested in the healthcare reform task. There is a lot of talk about what to do with hospital beds, what to do with manpower, and so on, but there are no changes that can be felt in the field,” said a professor at a large hospital in Seoul requesting anonymity. “It's funny when you look at it from the field.”

“Now that the president (who decided to increase the number of medical school students) is facing impeachment, the health minister or education minister has to take responsibility and solve it, but I don't know what they are doing,” he said. “I don't know what they will do if the same situation as last year is repeated in March.”

The professor also pointed out that one of the biggest reasons for the government's healthcare reform—expanding the medical workforce—is backfiring.

“Our hospital is only doing about 60 to 70 percent of the surgeries we used to do,” he said. “We can't do any more surgeries because we don't have trainee doctors or anesthesiologists. We can't even ask for more operating rooms.”

“The anesthesiology department has no specialists and is in a tough situation, so many people are resigning because the gap (with regional hospitals) is getting wider and wider,” he said. “So, in the surgical part, if the anesthesiology department opens the operating room, we have to say ’thank you' and operate.”

Some of the resigned trainee doctors want to come back, but they say there are no (face-saving) reasons (provided by the government) for them to come back, the professor said, adding that he hopes the government can create a “plausible reason” for them to come back.

A professor at a provincial university hospital said, “The government pushes for healthcare reform to save the regional healthcare system, but I don't know if the officials know the reality. They propagandize many support programs for restructuring tertiary general hospitals but nothing tangible in the field.”

“February has already passed, and the government proposes no solution for the return of trainee doctors and medical students,” she said. “In such a situation, it is difficult to get a response from the field no matter how good the healthcare reform and policies are.”

The National Assembly also criticized the Health and Welfare Ministry's self-praise of the healthcare reform project.

“The Health and Welfare Ministry has self-congratulated that it is implementing 50 percent of the essential healthcare policy package, but this is not the time to do so,” said Rep. Kang Sun-woo of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea at a plenary session of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee on Tuesday.

“If you look at all the 5,000 reports of medical disturbances over the past year, cancer patients, children, and pregnant women suffered the most,” Kange said. “Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo said the ministry would take responsibility, but we cannot restore the (lost) lives and health of the people. We need to follow up on cases of damage to the people thoroughly.”

In response, Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong said, “As a minister, I apologize for the suffering of the people (due to the medical crisis). We will try to normalize the healthcare system as soon as possible.”