Sinan-gun Office [Sinan-gun]
Sinan-gun Office [Sinan-gun]

Sinan-gun in South Jeolla Province has secured a retired senior doctor after raising the monthly salary to 33 million won ($24,100).

The county announced Tuesday that a 61-year-old senior doctor, identified only as A, had been selected as the final hire to work at its public health center. The appointment came after six rounds of job postings.

The county had posted recruitment notices twice last year and three times this year in an effort to fill the vacancy.

The monthly salary was initially advertised at 11 million won, then raised to 13 million won, but drew no applicants. The county then made the dramatic increase to 33 million won.

The sharp pay rise attracted six senior doctor applicants, one of whom was hired. The doctor is set to begin a one-year posting in October.

The senior doctor program is a government initiative that places retired physicians aged 60 or older with at least 20 years of clinical experience in medically underserved areas.

Sinan-gun, made up of 1,004 islands, is one of the most medically underserved areas in the country. Eight of its 16 community health subcenters — half the total — currently operate without a doctor.

At some of those subcenters, public health nurses designated as primary care providers have been filling in for physicians.

The county said the government should lower the age threshold for the senior doctor program from 60 to 55 and expand national funding, arguing that structurally securing doctors in medically underserved areas is inherently difficult.


bbo@heraldcorp.com