The first national inspection by the Welfare Committee of 9 regional national university hospitals... Point out manpower shortage, deficit, etc.

In government audits of local national university hospitals, problems with lack of local and essential medical infrastructure, including lack of manpower, were repeatedly pointed out.

At the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee audit on the 8th, questions were asked about securing human resources and operational status at nine national university hospitals across the country, excluding Seoul National University Hospital.

As the ministry in charge of local national university hospitals changed from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health and Welfare this year, these national university hospitals became the subject of a government audit by the Health and Welfare Committee for the first time this year.

The committee members agreed that although the government announced a plan to develop local national university hospitals to the level of the 'Big 5' in the metropolitan area, there is currently a serious shortage of manpower and financial difficulties.

Rep. Lee Su-jin (Democratic Party of Korea) said, "For the National University Hospital to serve as a training and research institute as a local medical institution, it must not only invest in facilities and equipment, but also have a stable supply of manpower, but the situation does not look easy. As of August, Pusan ​​National University Hospital has a quota of 1,380 doctors, but the current number of doctors is 1,070, which is only 77.5% of the required manpower. Most other national university hospitals are also unable to fill their quota."

Rep. Kim Yoon (Democratic Party of Korea) pointed out, "We analyzed the working conditions of high-risk maternal and newborn care personnel at the National University Hospital over the past year, and when treating critically ill newborns, the working hours of the Gyeongsang National University Hospital (medical staff) were an average of 55 hours a week, and a maximum of 150 hours a week." He added, "The average number of on-calls per month is 16.8 times, and the maximum continuous working time is 6 days. How do you ensure the health and safety of the medical staff working like this?"

Rep. Kim Ki-woong (People Power Party) said, "Overall, national university hospitals continue to have billions of deficits, and even in the same region, private university hospitals have surpluses. Looking at this, it appears that there is a structural and institutional problem rather than a temporary or regional situation."

Directors of local national university hospitals urged government support, citing manpower shortages due to the work environment and concentration in the metropolitan area and financial difficulties due to performing public medical functions.

Kim Won-seop, director of Chungbuk National University Hospital, said, "There were many difficulties due to the resident situation, and (currently) residents have returned, but the return rate for essential medical staff is low, around 45%." He also expressed difficulties, saying, "The difference in compensation (between primary and secondary hospitals) is more than three times greater, so we cannot catch up due to the conditions of the national university hospital."

Gyeongsang National University Hospital Director Hwa Jeong-seok said, "The public children's rehabilitation hospital will be completed at the end of this year, and we are preparing to open in 2027. We understand that the annual deficit of the public children's rehabilitation hospital that is already in operation is in the billions, so we ask the government to find a way to make up for the deficit that arises while performing such paper, pencil, and public medical services."

Son Young-rae, head of the Regional Essential Public Medical Office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "From a institutional perspective, it is difficult for each national university hospital to secure people because it is tied to other public institutions. We are discussing with the Ministry of Finance and Economy a plan to exclude the National University Hospital from other public institutions. I think it would be good to exclude it from other public institutions by the first half of next year, and we will pursue that."

He went on to explain, “We have reached an agreement with the Ministry of Budget on programs to subsidize labor costs for recruiting specialists at national university hospitals or to subsidize labor costs for existing professors, and a new budget is included to subsidize labor costs temporarily, at least for about two years.”

Regarding the transfer of the local national university hospital's work from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Director Son also added, "We will thoroughly discuss with the Ministry of Budget to ensure that the government does not incur losses in the already established national treasury subsidy rate just because the responsible ministry has changed."