A newborn receives care in an incubator at the neonatal intensive care unit of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Gyeonggi Province, March 14. Korea Times photo by Jung Da-bin

Only seven trainee doctors are on duty nationwide to care for high-risk newborns in Korea, raising concerns about the availability of timely treatment for vulnerable infants, according to government data released Wednesday.

The number of trainee doctors in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) has dramatically dropped to just seven as of June this year, according to the data the Ministry of Health and Welfare submitted to Rep. Park Hee-seong of the Democratic Party of Korea.

This represents a significant decline of 94.3 percent from the 122 trainee doctors reported in 2019.

Of the 51 university hospitals across the country, only five currently operate NICUs. Jeju National University Hospital, Busan St. Mary's Hospital and Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital each have just one trainee doctor, while Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital and Daegu Fatima Hospital have two.

The decrease in NICU trainee doctors has been significant over recent years, falling from 122 in 2019 to 111 in 2020, 95 in 2021, 88 in 2022, 49 in 2023 and this year, down to just seven.

Due to the shortage, some hospitals have reduced the number of available beds. The shortage includes trainee doctors in pediatric care.

Furthermore, several hospitals have also experienced a decline in the number of specialists. Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital saw its specialists decrease from seven to four compared to last year, while Jeju National University Hospital saw a reduction from four to two.

Chonnam National University Hospital and Chungbuk National University Hospital also saw declines, with specialist numbers falling from six to five and from four to three, respectively.

Meanwhile, the percentage of high-risk births requiring treatment is on the rise. The rate of low birth weight babies, defined as those weighing less than 2.5 kilograms, as well as premature births under 37 weeks of gestation and multiple births, continues to increase.

The ratio of underweight babies to total births climbed from 19.2 percent in 2019 to 22.9 percent last year, signaling that roughly one in five newborns may require intensive medical care.

Park criticized the Yoon Suk Yeol administration for the ongoing medical crisis, stressing that in a country already facing a low birthrate, every birth is precious and that newborn patients must not be overlooked due to the shortage of medical staff.