The government will develop national university hospitals as key hubs of regional medical systems to resolve the collapse of regional and essential care and the concentration of patients in the Seoul metropolitan area. It plans to increase the number of professors at national university hospitals and expand essential care centers such as emergency, cardio-cerebrovascular, and trauma, while also strengthening research and education functions so that people can receive Seoul-level medical services in the regions.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Education on the 15th announced the "comprehensive direction for fostering national university hospitals to strengthen regional and essential care" at Chungnam National University Hospital.
◇ Increase professors and ease payroll regulations… Resolve staffing shortages at regional national university hospitals
The government plans to foster regional national university hospitals not merely as treatment institutions but as teaching and research hospitals, strengthening clinical, research, education, and public policy functions across the board. The goal is to enable national university hospitals to serve as the central axis of a complete, self-sufficient regional medical system.
The core of this plan is to expand the medical workforce. Regional national university hospitals have struggled to secure top-tier medical staff due to lower pay compared with large hospitals in the Seoul area, rigid staffing systems, and insufficient research infrastructure.
In fact, the research and development (R&D) budget from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for just one hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, exceeds that of all nine regional national university hospitals combined. Large hospitals in the Seoul area also have two to five times more clinician-researchers and senior research personnel, which has been cited as a factor driving medical staff who wish to combine research and clinical practice to move to the metropolitan area.
To address this, starting next year the government will gradually increase full-time faculty at regional national university hospitals. While pushing to expand professor positions in light of the increase in medical school enrollment and the demand for regional and essential care, it also plans to ease total payroll cost regulations to offer compensation on par with private hospitals. It will operate staffing flexibly to match hospital-specific needs, and will revise systems to allow fast-track hiring for specialists in essential departments.
It will not stop at simply adding personnel but will also expand research equipment and research staff to boost competitiveness as teaching and research hospitals. The government believes only by creating a free research and education environment can top medical talent settle in the regions, and it plans to expand investment in research infrastructure.
Currently, major tertiary hospitals in Seoul have about 4.3 specialists per 10 beds, while regional national university hospitals remain at about 2.3. The government plans to create an environment that attracts and retains top medical talent in the regions, raising the clinical capacity of regional national university hospitals to the level of large Seoul-area hospitals.
◇ Stop the "ER merry-go-round," and strengthen research and education functions
Measures are also included to address the so-called "ER merry-go-round," in which overcrowded emergency rooms and the inability to find a treating hospital force patients to be shuttled around by ambulance. The government will expand the designation of five government-designated essential care centers—emergency, maternal and child, cardio-cerebrovascular, trauma, and pediatric—focusing on national university hospitals to strengthen their role as central providers of essential care.
It will also expand investment in medical infrastructure. It plans to introduce advanced medical equipment such as surgical robots and cancer treatment devices, and to expand intensive care units and operating rooms to strengthen the capacity to treat critical and emergency patients. It will support the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI)-based care systems to enhance diagnostic support and patient monitoring.
Research functions will be reinforced as well. It will link clinical data among national university hospitals to build large-scale research infrastructure and expand industry-academia-research-hospital collaboration. Through this, it plans to activate the development of new technologies and participation in clinical studies, including anticancer drugs, treatments for rare diseases, and advanced regenerative medicine.
In education, it will expand resident allocations and establish clinical training centers. In this year's first-year resident recruitment, internal medicine at regional national university hospitals had a fill rate of only 23.2%, and some hospitals had no applicants at all. The government plans to improve training conditions by building simulation-based training facilities and cooperative training systems, and will support the full cycle from medical student education to resident training and specialist retention in connection with the regional doctor system.
To back these policies, the government will prepare medium- to long-term financial support measures using regional essential care special accounts and will also strengthen compensation systems for performance in essential and public health care. In addition, it plans to establish a dedicated organization to oversee the development of national university hospitals to increase policy execution.
Minister Jung Eun-kyeong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, "Fostering national university hospitals is a core investment not only for health policy but also for improving regional living conditions and achieving balanced national development," adding, "We will expand support so that national university hospitals can establish themselves as responsible institutions for regional essential care and as key hubs for research, education, and public health care."
Minister Choi Kyo-jin of the Ministry of Education said, "We expect national university hospitals to grow into central institutions for regional and essential care and core institutions for medical education and research," adding, "The Ministry of Education will also continue to provide support so that national university hospitals can fully carry out their role as teaching hospitals for national medical schools."