"No recovery since the medical conflict; more than 4 out of 10 beds remain empty, and surgeries drop by over 20%."

It has been revealed that bed and operating room occupancy rates at regional national university hospitals have failed to recover to levels seen before the conflict between the medical community and the government.

On the 6th, Representative Seo Mi-hwa of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Health and Welfare Committee, released data submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

According to the data, the average bed occupancy rate across nine national university hospitals—excluding Seoul National University Hospital—plummeted from 73.6% in 2023 to 56.4% in 2024, and remained stagnant at 56.4% in 2025.

This represents a 17.3 percentage point drop compared to 2023, meaning that more than 4 out of 10 hospital beds are sitting empty.

The downward trend was pronounced across individual hospitals. Comparing 2025 to 2023, Chungbuk National University Hospital experienced the largest decline in bed occupancy, dropping 29.8 percentage points from 77.2% to 47.4%.

This was followed by Gyeongsang National University Hospital (-22.5 percentage points), Kyungpook National University Hospital (-20.4 percentage points), Chonnam National University Hospital (-19.3 percentage points), Kangwon National University Hospital (-17.0 percentage points), and Pusan National University Hospital (-13.4 percentage points).

Jeju National University Hospital also saw a decline of 8.7 percentage points, dropping from 80.7% to 72.0%. Jeju National University Hospital was the only institution among the nine to maintain a bed occupancy rate in the 70% range in 2025.

Representative Seo Mi-hwa commented, "Although regional national university hospitals implemented self-rescue measures such as declaring emergency management, it was insufficient to recover the treatment volume that had shrunk following the medical conflict."

Surgeries Drop from 190,000 to 140,000… Pusan and Chungbuk National University Hospitals See 37% Decrease

The number of surgeries also plunged and has been slow to recover. The total number of surgeries at 10 national university hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital, sharply declined by 33.6% from 193,213 cases in 2023 to 128,231 cases in 2024.

Although it partially rebounded to 145,810 cases in 2025, it remains 24.5% lower than the 2023 level. As of June 2026, surgeries stood at just 89,804 cases, indicating that the normalization of surgical capacity is progressing sluggishly.

Looking at individual hospitals, Pusan National University Hospital suffered the largest drop in surgeries at 37.6% in 2025 compared to 2023.

It was followed by Chungbuk National University Hospital (-37.4%), Kyungpook National University Hospital (-32.6%), Chonnam National University Hospital (-30.1%), Kangwon National University Hospital (-27.4%), Gyeongsang National University Hospital (-27%), Chungnam National University Hospital (-18.1%), Jeonbuk National University Hospital (-17.4%), Seoul National University Hospital (-16.4%), and Jeju National University Hospital (-5.7%).

Representative Seo Mi-hwa emphasized, "We must promptly restore the medical capacities of national university hospitals that have been contracted due to the medical conflict and regional medical vacuum."

She added, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare must strengthen practical support measures—such as expanding staffing and medical infrastructure—so that national university hospitals can fully perform their roles as core public medical institutions responsible for severe, emergency, and essential care in their regions."

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]