SEOUL:South Korea is facing acute shortage of paediatricians owing to the world’s lowest birth rate, leaving hospitals unable to fill posts and raising risks for children’s health, doctors say.
According to the Seoul Institute, a public administration think tank, the number of paediatric clinics and hospitals in the capital has fallen by 12.5 percent over the five years to 2022, to just 456. Over the same period, the number of psychiatry clinics increased by 76.8%, while anaesthesiology centres saw a 41.2% rise.
The main cause 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, seven paediatricians told media.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare 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. For parents, the shortage can mean long waits for treatment for sick children.
