Lawmakers and public health officials point to mounting vacancies across provincial health outposts, prompting calls for regional governments to overhaul staffing strategies and protect basic medical access for rural residents.
New public health doctor appointments dropped from 663 physicians in 2019 down to 98 physicians by 2026, representing an 85 percent decrease over seven years, according to data from the National Assembly Research Service cited by Chungbuk Provincial Assembly member Cho Sung-ryong during the 437th regular session on September 22, 2026. Projections indicate that by 2027, approximately 86.9 percent of public health clinics nationwide—totaling 1,083 locations—will operate without a single assigned public health doctor.
Chungcheongbuk-do Staffing Levels Drop Rapidly
In Chungcheongbuk-do, the local public health physician count fell from 177 practitioners in August 2025 to 126 practitioners by August 2026, marking a 28.8 percent reduction in a single year. While individual municipal governments such as Cheongju and Goesan County have implemented independent stopgap measures, provincial-level coordination remains insufficient to stabilize the eroding medical safety net.
Regional Countermeasures and Legislative Proposals
Assemblyman Cho urged the Chungcheongbuk-do provincial government to adopt proactive operational models established elsewhere, noting that Gyeongsangbuk-do became the first region nationwide to declare a functional enhancement public health clinic pilot model while formally petitioning the Ministry of Health and Welfare for statutory revisions.
The proposed provincial action plan outlines three core directives:
- Conducting a comprehensive audit of municipal public health doctor vacancies to establish a unified provincial response framework.
- Allocating educational and operational funding to deploy dedicated public health nursing officials to undermanned health substations.
- Actively participating in legislative revision discussions to formulate institutional improvements at the provincial level.
Basic healthcare access for rural seniors remains a constitutionally guaranteed right, and the provincial government must function as the central control tower to preserve that medical safety net, according to Assemblyman Cho.