Shinan County in South Jeolla Province (Jeollanam-do) drew no applicants when it offered a monthly salary of 11 million won and managed to hire a single doctor only after raising the pay to 33 million won. The process took 465 days.
According to data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to Rep. So Byung-hoon of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, Shinan County has run a senior doctor support program since June last year that places retired physicians and others at medical facilities in the region.
The county initially offered 11 million won a month and held two rounds of recruitment, but no one applied. This year it raised the pay to 13 million won a month and held three more rounds, with the same result. In a sixth round, after the monthly pay was lifted sharply to 33 million won, six people applied. The county selected one of them, who began work on the 1st. From the first notice to the actual hire, 465 days passed.
The county's recruitment struggle lays bare the shortage of medical staff in rural areas. As of August, eight of the 16 public health subcenters in the county, or half, had no doctor.
Even when a doctor is found, the financial burden is a problem. The senior doctor support program sets the standard subsidy for a full-time doctor's pay at 11 million won a month, split evenly between the central and local governments at 5.5 million won each. Shinan County must cover the remaining 22 million won from its own budget. Adding its existing 5.5 million won share, the county bears 27.5 million won of the 33 million won monthly salary.
Demand is going unmet across South Jeolla Province as a whole. This year, 16 medical institutions and public health centers in the region applied for 24 senior doctors, but only 15 were approved and just 13 actually took up their posts. In Gwangju, two doctors were approved at Gwangju Christian Hospital in 2024, with no applications filed last year or this year.
Nationwide, medical institutions and public health centers applied for hiring support for 291 doctors this year, but only 138, or 47.4%, were approved. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the limited budget capped the number of approvals.
"With the number of public health doctors falling sharply, experienced senior doctors are an important alternative," So said. "For farming and fishing villages and island and mountain areas where securing doctors is difficult, the central government's share should be raised and a tiered support plan reflecting actual hiring costs should be prepared."