[앵커]
As the number of pediatric clinics, whether at university hospitals or neighborhood hospitals, is drastically decreasing, concerns over the treatment table are gradually becoming a reality.
As patients flock to the pediatric clinic that is open, the waiting time is about an hour, and the pediatric major at a university hospital gives more than half in two months.
Reporter Lim Seong-jae reports.
[기자]
A pediatric clinic in Mapo-gu, Seoul.
Within an hour of the start of treatment, the waiting area is full of children and guardians.
It takes about 30 minutes to an hour to receive medical treatment.
From the patient’s point of view, it can only be felt more slowly.
[윤준영 / 서울 이촌동 : (대기를) 한 30분, 40분 정도 한 것 같아요. 근방에 몇 개가 없어서요. 몰리게 되는 것 같습니다.]
As more than 660 local pediatric hospitals have closed in the past five years, patients are flocking to the remaining hospitals.
[김은선 / 소아청소년과 전문의 : 수가가 안 되기 때문에 그렇게만 봐서는 소아청소년과를 경영할 수가 없습니다. 주변 병원들이 많이 폐업하게 되고, 더더욱 아픈 환자들만 집중해서 볼 수밖에 없고….]
The future is more uncertain.
The number of applications for pediatric majors plummeted, so only 33 out of 207 quotas applied for this year’s recruitment.
As the number of residents who take care of emergency patients mainly at night on weekdays and on weekends and holidays has drastically decreased, university hospitals have been hit hard.
Even hospitals in the metropolitan area are not receiving inpatients or drastically reducing treatment hours.
In front of the emergency room at Gangnam Severance Hospital, a notice was posted stating that emergency pediatric patients cannot be treated after 10:00 p.m.
Doctors are reluctant because there are almost no non-payable items due to the low birth rate.
A bigger problem is that there is not even a discussion body that can solve these problems.
[임현택 / 대한소아청소년과의사회 회장 : (몇 년 전부터) 대책이 필요하다고 목소리를 내왔지만 뚜렷한 대책을 정부가 내놓지 않았고, 보건복지부, 질병청, 기재부, 지방정부와 국회 그리고 소아과 전문의들이 협의체를 만들어….]
Two months later, 188 fourth-year pediatricians leave the university hospital after completing training, but only 33 people are recruited, raising concerns about a ‘medical crisis’.
As it is pointed out that the pediatric care infrastructure has already begun to collapse like a domino, it is urgent to prepare countermeasures.
This is Im Seong-jae from YTN.
Im Seong-jae of YTN ([email protected])
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