Health ministry holds first meeting with young healthcare professionals

The health ministry said it had held its first meeting with 10 young healthcare professionals to discuss greater youth participation in health-policy decisions and the sector's future direction.

The meeting in Seoul was chaired by Second Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hun and included representatives of resident doctors, dentists, Korean medicine doctors, pharmacists and nurses. They shared workplace experience and views on the future of healthcare.

Participants said younger professionals had too few opportunities to be heard despite their substantial role in healthcare. They urged the government to broaden their representation in policy decisions, ensure specialists' views inform decisions on introducing artificial intelligence and keep final decision-making authority with experts. They also called for training and working conditions that support young professionals' development. Resident doctors pointed to excessive workloads while balancing training and clinical work, while nursing representatives pressed for youth input on standards for appropriate nurse staffing.

Dentists and Korean medicine doctors also called for policies to improve resident training conditions and expand the application of the resident physicians law. Pharmacists urged broader access to services for managing multiple medications, whose importance is increasing with population aging, and closer links with integrated care.

"Young people are the very future of our healthcare and policy partners with whom we will shape that future," Lee said.

The next meeting, planned for October or November, will take up selected common proposals, including ways to expand young healthcare professionals' participation in policy.