Minister Cho Gyu-hong noted on the 19th that he will continue discussions on medical reform measures, including strengthening regional and essential medical care, through the President's direct social council, the Medical Reform Special Committee.
There have been assessments that the government's medical reform lost momentum following the state of emergency declared by President Yoon Suk-yeol, but analyses suggest that the relevant departments have begun to step on the pedal again under the acting Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.
Minister Cho Gyu-hong presided over a significant meeting of the physician collective action response headquarters at the Government Seoul Office that morning and said, "Medical reform is an urgent task that must not be delayed for a moment to save regional and essential medical care directly linked to the health and lives of the people." He added, "To ensure that we do not miss the golden time for reform, we will diligently promote the measures already announced in accordance with our promise to the people, continuously listening to voices from the medical field and developing them."
According to Minister Cho, along with the support project for transforming the structure of tertiary general hospitals that has been in effect since October, there is a plan to continuously promote the cultivation of "secondary hospitals" that patients can trust, the fostering of specialty hospitals with essential medical capabilities, and the innovation of primary care for integrated and continuous health management.
Minister Cho said, "To this end, starting with a discussion forum on the activation policy of regional secondary hospitals at the end of this month, we will gather opinions from the medical community on the reform tasks and proceed to discussions in the Medical Reform Special Committee." He also noted, "In addition, we will concretize tasks such as the reform of non-insured medical services and real insurance to resolve distortions in medical utilization, and the establishment of a safety net for medical accidents for both patients and medical professionals."
Minister Cho urged the medical community to resume dialogue. He said, "I request that the medical community including hospitals actively participate in the discussions of the Medical Reform Special Committee so that regional and essential medical care can be revitalized." Initially, the government planned to announce the second execution plan for medical reform by the end of this year through discussions in the Medical Reform Special Committee. However, discussions were halted when the medical community declared its "non-participation" due to the state of emergency. The Ministry of Health and Welfare aims to restart medical reform, beginning with policy forums.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to support residents who have applied for the recruitment of first-year residents at training hospitals next year to ensure they do not suffer unfair disadvantages. Minister Cho mentioned, "There are concerns that the will to apply for residency may be discouraged due to complaints about notifications to withdraw applications given to first-year resident applicants at some training hospitals." He stated, "The government will thoroughly manage the recruitment process to ensure that all applicants have equal selection opportunities and that there are no cases of unfair disqualification for unjust reasons."
To prepare for the surge in emergency room patients during winter, the government has designated an additional nine regional emergency medical centers to reduce the burden on them and enhance the national capacity to treat critically ill emergency patients, operating a total of 14. Measures to prevent overcrowding in emergency rooms and the operation of "fever clinics" for mild patients are also underway. Applications to operate have been received from 115 medical institutions, and the designations are expected to be completed within this month.
Minister Cho stated, "While there are challenges, the emergency medical and emergency care system has been relatively maintained thanks to the efforts of on-site medical personnel and paramedics." He added, "We will make every effort to ensure that the emergency care system focused on severe and emergency patients operates without disruption."