The number of 'general practitioners' who have passed the national medical examination without going through a residency program is rapidly increasing, with many choosing dermatology as their field of practice.
According to data received by Jeon Jin-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea from the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA) on the 7th, 176 new clinics operated by general practitioners opened between January and July this year. This is a 36.4% increase compared to the same period last year (129 clinics).
The increase in general practitioners opening clinics has become prominent following the conflict between the medical community triggered by the increase in medical school admissions last year. In fact, the number of clinics opened by general practitioners surged from 193 in 2022 to 285 last year, with 178 in 2023.
The 176 general practitioner clinics that opened this year reported a total of 421 medical specialties, averaging 2.4 specialties per institution. Among these, dermatology accounted for the most at 146 cases, making up 83% of the total. The following were plastic surgery (49 cases), family medicine (42 cases), internal medicine (33 cases), and orthopedics (30 cases).
Regionally, 7 out of 10 clinics are concentrated in the metropolitan area. Seoul had the most at 72 clinics (40.9%), followed by Gyeonggi Province with 39 clinics (22.2%), and Incheon with 12 clinics (6.8%). Notably, Gangnam District (28 clinics) and Seocho District (10 clinics) in Seoul account for 21.6% of the total.
Representative Jeon Jin-sook noted, "The return of residents is increasingly focusing on popular specialties, leading to polarization, and new general practitioner clinics are also showing a tendency to concentrate in popular specialties," and emphasized that measures need to be prepared to ensure there is no gap in essential medical services.