Ungsan Public Health Center in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province. [Yangsan City]
Ungsan Public Health Center in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province. [Yangsan City]

Yangsan, a city in South Gyeongsang Province, is struggling to recruit medical staff for its public health centers. Despite raising the daily wage to as much as 600,000 won ($390), the city has drawn no applicants, raising concerns about disruptions to local public health services.

According to the city Wednesday, Yangsan posted a recruitment notice in March last year for a supervising physician at Ungsan Public Health Center. The opening arose after the Ungsan community health clinic was upgraded to a full public health center, creating one new Grade 5 medical officer post.

The supervising physician role covers general consultations, health screenings, pre-vaccination assessments and the interpretation of various clinical results. But with the minimum annual salary capped at around 67 million won under civil servant pay regulations, not a single person applied.

Two weeks later, the city advertised the same position as a fixed-term contract worker — a category not subject to civil servant pay rules — offering a daily rate of 400,000 won. That posting also attracted no applicants. A further civil servant recruitment notice in May of the same year again drew no interest, and subsequent contract postings in August, November and December ultimately led the city to hire one supervising physician at the end of last year at a daily rate of 600,000 won.

Even so, the Grade 5 medical officer post allocated to Ungsan Public Health Center remains unfilled. The city posted four recruitment notices from January through last month without receiving a single application. With the current contract physician's term set to expire this year, the city's predicament is deepening.

Yangsan City Public Health Center faces a similar situation. The city advertised a contract supervising physician position in January at a daily rate of 550,000 won but received no applications. After raising the rate to 600,000 won and posting three more notices, it managed to hire one physician in February. That physician has since indicated they will only stay through July, and two recruitment drives this month have so far produced no applicants.

The city has also been unable to find a successor for the director of Yangsan City Public Health Center, who is set to retire next month. Four recruitment notices posted between last November and May went unanswered.

The director position had been restricted to licensed physicians, but after repeated failures the city recently relaxed the eligibility requirements to include dentists, traditional medicine doctors, midwives, nurses, pharmacists and health-related civil servants.

"As this work is directly tied to the health of local residents, we hope many people — including physicians — will take an interest," a city official said.


betterj@heraldcorp.com