S.Korean doctors flee paediatrics as low birth rate bites
(VOVWORLD) - South Korea is suffering from a shortage of pediatricians partly a result of the world’s lowest birth rate and increasingly a factor behind it, leaving hospitals unable to fill posts and raising risks for children’s health, doctors say.
 Doctors say the low-fee problem is particular to paediatrics as the insurance system has not been revised to reflect fewer child patients. (PHOTO: REUTERS) |
The number of paediatric clinics and hospitals in the capital has fallen by 12.5% over the five years to 2022, to just 456. At the root of the problem is a birth rate that fell to 0.78 in 2022 - that’s the average number of babies expected per woman - combined with the failure of the insurance system to adapt to it, leaving paediatrics starved of resources and doctors shunning a field they think has no future, according to Reuters.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare acknowledged “limitations” in the system and said measures were being implemented to address them. According to ministry data, hospitals were only able to secure the services of 16.3% of the paediatricians they sought in the first half of this year, down from 97.4% in 2013.