Yu Kyung-ha, chairperson of the Daehan Hospital Association, said on the 23rd that national support for essential medical care must be further strengthened, adding that she will push for "building a medical accident safety net" and "establishing a state-responsible residency training system."
The Daehan Hospital Association is a representative medical organization whose members include tertiary general hospitals, general hospitals, hospitals, and long-term care hospitals.
At an inaugural press briefing held on the 23rd at the Daehan Hospital Association hall in Mapo District, Seoul, Chairperson Yu said, "Hospitals responsible for essential medical care cannot endure on a sense of duty alone," and "the state and society must fairly evaluate that value and provide sufficient and swift support."
Yu, who is vice president for medical affairs and head of the medical center at Ewha Womans University, took office in May as the 43rd chairperson of the Daehan Hospital Association. She is the first female chairperson since the association's founding in 1959.
Referring to obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency care, and critical care, Yu said, "With the current fee schedule and staffing alone, it is difficult to ensure sustainability," adding, "Essential medical care must be approached as a concept of national infrastructure."
Yu also said she will push to establish a medical accident indemnity mutual aid association in response to the mandatory enrollment in medical accident liability insurance.
She said, "Protecting patients and ensuring a stable treatment environment for medical institutions are goals that must be pursued together," adding, "We will create a safety net suited to the realities of the medical community so that hospitals can focus on care without bearing excessive burdens from medical disputes and unexpected accidents."
However, regarding the specific operation of the mutual aid association, she explained, "We are at the stage of reviewing business feasibility and financial conditions," and "We plan to examine, through a research project, the scope of roles it can assume."
She also presented reform of the residency training system as a key task. The Daehan Hospital Association plans to expand and reorganize the Residency Environment Evaluation Headquarters and newly establish the Residency Evaluation Bureau and the Residency Program Bureau to strengthen functions for resident education and improvement of the training environment.
Yu said, "Residents are the future of medicine in Korea," and "Training specialists is an area the state must take responsibility for." She added, "Residents have the characteristic of being both workers and trainees," emphasizing, "A government-led training system and improvements to the training environment are necessary."
On the day, Kim Woo-kyung, first policy chairperson of the Daehan Hospital Association (president of Gachon University Gil Medical Center), argued that the concept of essential medical care should be redefined.
Kim said, "The definition of essential medical care is still ambiguous," adding, "It should be defined based on actual medical procedures rather than by medical departments." He explained, "Instead of defining the entirety of neurosurgery or obstetrics and gynecology as essential care, we should approach it using procedures directly tied to people's lives—such as emergency craniotomy, emergency cesarean section, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and severe trauma surgery—as the standard."
He also emphasized, "Current discussions on essential medical care tend to focus only on preventing death," adding, "Medical procedures that prevent severe disabilities—such as paralysis, blindness, spinal cord injury, brain injury, and organ failure—should also be included in essential medical care that the state must protect."
Yu In-sang, first insurance chairperson of the Daehan Hospital Association (chairperson of the Korea Small and Medium Hospital Association), also argued that expanded national support is needed to secure funding for essential medical care.
Yu said, "It is difficult to solve all problems with health insurance finances alone," adding, "To maintain essential and regional medical care, it is necessary to expand national fiscal support outside health insurance."
The Daehan Hospital Association will also push to strengthen cooperative systems among hospitals. Yu said, "Tertiary general hospitals, regional hospitals, small and medium-sized hospitals, and specialty hospitals are not competitors but partners with the common goal of public health," adding, "Through the chairperson's direct Win-Win Cooperation Committee, we will expand field-centered communication in the regions."
She said, "A medical system in which only tertiary general hospitals survive is not desirable," adding, "We will devise ways to secure sustainability as each medical institution performs roles suited to its functions." The Daehan Hospital Association also plans to promote policy development and projects in artificial intelligence (AI) and Digital Healthcare, centered on the Digital Information Innovation Committee and the AI Strategy Business Bureau.