Gov't to downgrade top-level medical crisis alert next month: health minister

SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government plans to soon downgrade the nation's top-level "serious" health crisis alert, issued early last year following the mass resignation of trainee doctors, as hospital operations gradually return to normal, the health minister has said.

Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong said the downgrade will likely come after the Chuseok holiday, which falls in the second week of October, during a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency at the Korea National Organ, Tissue and Blood Management Organization (KONOS).

"If medical services remain stable through the holiday, the government will hold a crisis assessment meeting and adjust the alert level next month," Jeong said.

The government first raised the health disaster alert to the highest "serious" level on Feb. 23 last year, after thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in protest of a plan to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 to nearly 5,000 starting this year.

The plan has since been scrapped, with the 2026 quota reverted to the previous level of about 3,000.

The alert has remained in place, and the government has operated an emergency medical system by injecting about 200 billion won (US$143 million) a month from the national health insurance fund to cover temporarily raised medical fees and maintain essential services.

Jeong said inpatient care at major hospitals has returned to nearly 100 percent of pre-crisis levels, while surgeries and outpatient visits have recovered to about 95 percent.

"But it will take more time for the affected hospital system to be fully normalized," said Jeong, who previously headed the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

She said reinforcing regional, essential and public health care remains one of her top policy priorities.

Regarding reforms, including the introduction of a regional doctor system, the establishment of a public medical school and the creation of new medical schools in underserved areas, Jeong said, "The government aims to prepare a draft plan by April next year, before the medical school quota for the 2027 academic year is finalized."

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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