Long wait for treatment for sick kids

Pediatrician Song Jong-geun talks with Jung Seung-yeon, 38, after performing medical treatment on her son at his pediatric clinic in Seoul, South Korea, June 14, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

The country is suffering from a shortage of paediatricians, partly a result of the world’s lowest birth rate and increasingly a factor behind it, leaving hospitals unable to fill posts and raising risks for children’s health, doctors say.

The number of paediatric clinics and hospitals in the capital has fallen by 12.5% over the five years to 2022, to just 456.