Amid signs of the first return of residents after legislative conflict, the government has decided to reduce next year's budget for the 'improvement of resident training environment' project, which began this year, to around 200 billion won and adjust the project execution structure. This continues the trend of cutting related budgets during the supplementary budget preparation process in June due to the sluggish return of residents.
The government plans to support, in aggregate, the amounts paid to training hospitals based on the number of residents rather than distributing allowances to individual specialists for each project item. By allowing hospitals to autonomously allocate the budget without predetermined purposes, the government aims to increase budget execution rates and enhance project efficiency relative to the invested budget.
According to the government on the 25th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to set the budget for the resident training environment improvement project in the '2026 budget proposal' lower than this year's main budget level (299.13 billion won). Previously, during the preparation process for the second supplementary budget in June, the government had reduced the budget for 'medical personnel training and appropriate supply management,' which included the resident training environment improvement project, by 98.689 billion won, setting it at 200.441 billion won.
This is because the budget related to this year has gone unused due to the sluggish return of residents. When the government prepared the budget for 2025 last year, it expected that over 80% of residents would return, but the return rate was only 18% by the end of the first half. This month, recruitment for the second half of residents is ongoing, but the resumption of training through this will not start until September.
It is known that the budget execution rate for this year remains close to 0% even after the supplementary budget was prepared. The budget scale for the resident training environment improvement project next year is expected to be similar to this year's reduced level.
A government official noted, 'Since the budget has already been reduced this year, it will decrease next year as well,' adding, 'However, since the project items will change, it is difficult to compare and say that the budget is 'absolutely less.'
The government will reduce the budget scale while also changing the execution method. Currently, the method involves allocating budgets for each item, such as surgical technique training and dispatch training support, to individual specialist instructors through hospitals. There was a limitation that if the project did not start as planned, the budget would be difficult to execute because the budget's purpose was pre-determined.
Starting next year, the government will calculate the average expense required per resident and provide the budget reflecting the number of residents to the training hospitals. By allowing hospitals to autonomously distribute the budget, it becomes possible to execute the budget without predetermined purposes.
The government also plans to introduce a performance-linked structure that provides budget support only to those hospitals that meet certain criteria based on training outcomes. The performance from September to the end of the year, when residents are expected to start returning in earnest, will be subject to evaluation. Since this year marked the first launch of the project, there was no such evaluation process.
A government official explained, 'The aim is to address the issues of low execution rates that have persisted and to enhance the actual effectiveness of the improvement in the training environment,' adding, 'While granting autonomy to hospitals, we plan to impose conditions to ensure proper operation of supervising specialists.'
Meanwhile, according to the medical community, the application rates for second-half recruitment for residents at the 'big five' hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital, Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, are around 70-80%. In regional hospitals, such as Yeungnam University Medical Center (46.5%) and Daegu Catholic University Hospital (48.8%), the application rates remain around 50%.