GYEONGGI — Calls are growing to overhaul the rules for appointing public health center chiefs, as officials in the health and nursing job tracks who have run local public health administration for years find their path to Grade 4 promotion blocked. Current law requires that licensed physicians be given priority for the post, but critics say many applicants are older and lack administrative experience, adding to confusion on the ground.
According to local governments on the 1st, the Regional Public Health Act requires that public health center chiefs be appointed from among licensed physicians on a priority basis. The law does allow exceptions: when hiring a doctor proves difficult, other qualified health care professionals or officials handling public health duties may be appointed instead.
Officials say the gap between that provision and actual personnel practice is worsening the promotion backlog for health and nursing staff. Those job tracks have few senior positions available, making the health center chief post effectively the only route to Grade 4. When the position is filled mainly through open competition for outside candidates, internal staff who have long run local public health programs see their promotion prospects shrink. That is why some argue that physician appointments and internal promotions should be combined flexibly, depending on each locality's circumstances.
The age of doctors applying for these open positions and their lack of administrative experience are also cited as problems. The role of a health center chief has shifted from mainly clinical care to broad administrative work, including infectious disease response, program planning, budget execution, organizational management and external coordination. The argument that local governments should make fuller use of the hands-on administrative experience of internal health and nursing officials, who know local conditions well, is gaining traction.
Suwon, Yongin and Ansan are among the cities that run open recruitment to hire doctors first but appoint internal officials when no qualified candidate emerges. In Goyang and Hanam, by contrast, every public health center in the city is headed by an outside hire, leaving internal promotion effectively closed off. In 2017, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommended revising the relevant legislation, saying the physician-priority rule risked infringing on other health care professionals' freedom of occupation and right to equality.
"We respect the intent behind giving doctors priority, but if all three public health centers in the city are run uniformly as open positions, internal officials are bound to feel increasingly shut out," an official in Goyang said. "The system should be set up so that internal health and nursing officials can advance to center chief, with both medical expertise and administrative experience taken into account."
