In Gangwon, Chungbuk, Jeonbuk, and Jeju, there are no specialists in thoracic surgery.
Medical staff are moving at a large hospital in downtown Seoul on the morning of July 11. ⓒYonhap News,
‘As the conflict between medical and government sectors persists, it has been identified that there are only 12 thoracic surgery specialists nationwide who continue their training.’,
‘According to the Korean Society for Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery on the 29th, there are currently 12 thoracic surgery specialists in training out of the total capacity of 107 in the country. The society stated that between the 24th and 26th, 75 out of 107 thoracic surgery specialists resigned, and 20 are in pending status waiting for the results of resignation processing.’,
‘Among the remaining 12 thoracic surgery specialists, six are in their fourth year of training. It means that next year, the maximum number of new thoracic surgery specialists that can be produced will be limited to 6. Excluding them, the other 6 are distributed by year as follows: 3 in the first year, 2 in the second year, and 1 in the third year.’,
‘Regional disparities are even more serious. Among the 12 thoracic surgery specialists nationwide, there are ▲5 in Daejeon and Chungnam ▲2 in Seoul ▲2 in Gyeongbuk and Daegu ▲1 each in Gyeonggi and Incheon, Gyeongnam and Busan, and Jeonnam and Gwangju. There are none in Gangwon, Chungbuk, Jeonbuk, and Jeju. As thoracic surgery is vital for life support such as heart and lung surgeries, concerns are raised that the future essential medical gaps will worsen.’,
‘In response, the society predicted that “the collapse of producing new specialists and revitalizing regional medical services has already occurred, leading to the shutdown of regional cardiovascular centers and emergency medical centers” and warned that “the wave of resignation of specialists will be significant in the coming years.”‘,
‘Furthermore, they pointed out that “although surgeries and treatments may continue for the time being, without the influx of new specialists, it may not last long” and emphasized that “with only 12 specialists, they cannot complete over 20,000 heart and lung surgeries annually.”‘,
‘They also stressed that “the sacrifice will fall on future heart and lung disease patients” and stated that “neglecting the current situation is a sin, and there is no time to spare, so everything possible must be done.”‘,