Photo : YONHAP News
A group of medical school professors announced a 42-percent decrease in the number of emergency room doctors at 53 hospitals nationwide, with seven hospitals considering cuts to their operating hours.
According to the Medical Professors Association of Korea on Thursday, a survey conducted Monday and Tuesday showed that the number of emergency room doctors at the 53 training hospitals has decreased by 41-point-nine percent, falling from 928 last year to 539 during the survey period.
The number of residents at those hospitals fell from 394 last year to just 33.
Among the hospitals participating in the survey, seven had five or fewer emergency room doctors, meaning their emergency rooms cannot operate 24 hours a day.
Daejeon and Chungcheong provinces saw the most dramatic decrease in emergency room doctors at 58 percent, followed by Busan at 53-point-six percent and Gwangju and South Jeolla Province at 51-point-two percent.