The number of public health doctors, essential personnel in medically underserved areas such as rural communities, has plummeted by over 70% in the past decade. In response, the government has introduced a program to hire retired doctors as 'senior doctors.' However, due to budget constraints, the program has failed to hire even half of the applicants.
On October 23, Rep. So Byeong-hoon of the Democratic Party revealed data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare indicating that the number of public health doctors decreased from 2,124 in 2017 to 587 in 2026, a drop of 72.4%.
In light of this decline, the government is expanding its Senior Doctor Support Program, which offers hiring subsidies of 11 million won per month for full-time positions and 4 million won for part-time roles.
Despite 291 applications for hiring support from 132 medical institutions and health centers nationwide this year, only 138 applicants (47.4%) were selected, leaving 153 (52.6%) rejected.
The situation is particularly dire for health centers, which applied for 119 senior doctors but had only 29 (24.4%) approved, resulting in over 75% of applications being denied.
Regionally, only five applicants from Chungnam (out of 23), five from Gangwon (out of 20), three from Gyeonggi (out of 19), and one from Gyeongnam (out of 10) were selected, while Chungbuk had four applicants but none were approved.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare explained that the limited budget restricted the number of selections.
A more significant issue lies in the structural limitations of the hiring subsidy program. The current Senior Doctor initiative divides funding equally between national and local governments, placing a heavy financial burden on municipalities with limited resources.
For instance, in Sinan County, Jeonnam, a doctor was hired after five failed attempts under a remarkable condition of 33 million won per month, but the government subsidy was only 11 million won (5.5 million won from the national budget). Consequently, the remaining cost (approximately 83.3%) had to be covered entirely by Sinan County's own budget, which has low financial independence.
Rep. So Byeong-hoon criticized the Ministry for failing to adequately support the hiring of necessary doctors, citing the urgent need for experienced senior doctors amid the decline in public health doctors. He emphasized the need to secure sufficient funding during the National Assembly's review of the 2027 budget and to develop differentiated support measures that increase the federal funding ratio for rural and remote areas where securing doctors is particularly challenging.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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