South Korean doctors flee paediatrics as low birth rate bites

The number of paediatric clinics and hospitals in Seoul has fallen by 12.5% over the five years to 2022, to just 456.

South Korea is suffering from a shortage of paediatricians, 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.

The number of paediatric clinics and hospitals in the capital has fallen by 12.5 per cent over the five years to 2022, to just 456. Over the same period, the number of psychiatry clinics increased by 76.8 per cent, while anaesthesiology centres saw a 41.2 per cent rise, according to the Seoul Institute, a public administration think tank.

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, seven paediatricians told Reuters.

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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 per cent of the paediatricians they sought in the first half of this year, down from 97.4 per cent in 2013.

For parents, the shortage can mean long waits for treatment for sick children.

One recent morning, the waiting room at a hospital in Seoul's outskirts was packed with dozens of children, many on intravenous drips.

"We had to wait two weeks," said Lee Bo-mi, a 35-year-old mother with a sick 3-year-old boy, at the Healthy Children's Hospital.

"I was really scared. It felt like the sky was falling."

Dr Song Dae-jin at Korea University Guro Hospital said he worried that staff shortages could soon cripple his team's ability to provide emergency care.

"At this rate, we won't be able to last the year," Song said. "It's not a big deal if mild diseases are not seen for a day or two but the consequences of not seeing serious diseases or emergency patients in a timely manner can be devastating."

A five-year-old boy with a respiratory infection died in May after failing to find a hospital bed, sparking a public outcry.

"Patients dying while bouncing around multiple emergency rooms, dying when it's not a serious disease, it's a travesty," said Dr Choi Yong-jae, vice president of the Korea Children's Hospital Association.