Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo holds a briefing on emergency medical treatment and other emergency measures at the Government Complex in Sejong on September 3. Yonhap News

The government has decided to urgently deploy 250 military and public health doctors to hospitals on September 2 amid signs of a crisis in emergency rooms. It was only four days ago that President Yoon Suk-yeol assured in a national briefing that “the country’s emergency medical system is operating smoothly,” despite the cries of emergency patients and paramedics and warnings from the ruling and opposition parties. But did the government make such an announcement after having measures for local health centers and military where doctors are living to work at hospitals? It is worrisome whether the government was not aware of the reality at the field or whether it tried to turn a blind eye to take the initiative in the medical-political confrontation.

The government‘s emergency medical measures seem to have been activated urgently as the disruption at emergency rooms spread to some large hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area as well as rural areas. The number of doctors working in emergency rooms is only 73.4 percent of normal, according to government estimates, as trainee doctors left hospitals. As a result, some hospitals in provincial areas, such as Sejong Chungnam National University Hospital and Kangwon National University Hospital, are closing their emergency rooms at night, while others, such as Seoul National University Medical Center and Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, are considering limited emergency room operations. What is more serious is that the public is suffering from the medical disruption. There have been urgent complaints from people who have visited more than 10 emergency rooms but have not received treatment, or who are in danger of cardiac arrest because they cannot find an emergency center.

The government says it is “mobilizing all available resources,” but the measure of deploying military and public health doctors is just like “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” It is said that the government will reinforce manpower by hiring PA nurses and temporary workers. However, it is doubtful that such a stopgap measure can resolve concerns about disruptions in emergency room treatment or medical disruptions during the Chuseok holiday. There is a high concern that the emergency medical situation in the places where military and public health doctors have left is likely to worsen. Public health centers are the last bastion of healthcare for people living in rural areas and low-income people.

The public is anxious about the government‘s vacillation. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at the National Assembly's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts on the 3rd, “It‘s definitely not that the president didn’t know about the emergency medical situation and only received a report that ‘things are going well,’” but public trust has already plummeted. The government has been looking at the medical-political conflict while being separated from reality and time has just passed without any signs of resolution.

The government should apologize for its complacency that led to this situation and start a dialogue with the medical community to put out the urgent fire. I hope that doctors will stop playing irrational chicken games and return to work, even during the Chuseok holiday, when hospitals are closed. In any case, emergency medical care, which is directly related to the lives of the people, should be prevented from collapsing.