Stricter monitoring urged for physicians with mental illness

More than 6,000 physicians each year are diagnosed with mental illness, but the absence of oversight verifying whether the doctors are able to adequately provide treatment is stoking concerns.

An average of 6,228 doctors per year were diagnosed with mental illnesses between 2019 and 2023 and performed an average of 27.99 million treatments and surgeries, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's data on medical professionals diagnosed with mental illness, submitted to Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of the ruling People Power Party, showed on Monday.

They are doctors specializing in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, plastic surgery, pediatrics and adolescent medicine, to name a few.

In particular, during the five years, an average of 54 doctors each year were diagnosed with schizophrenia -- a chronic brain disorder that affects how people think, feel and behave, and delusional disorder, where a person can't distinguish what is real from what is imagined. Despite these diagnoses, the doctors carried out approximately 151,694 medical treatments and surgeries annually, according to the data.

For the first seven months of this year, doctors with two psychotic spectrum disorders provided 845 consultations for psychiatric patients.

The data also found that an average of 2,243 doctors per year were diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings, and performed 9.09 million treatments and surgeries.

Five doctors were found to have a drug addiction during the same period -- three in 2022 and two in 2023, respectively.

Currently, Article 8 of the country's Medical Service Act stipulates that a person with mental illness or an addiction "to narcotics, marijuana or any psychotropic drugs" may not be qualified as medical personnel.

The Health Ministry, however, has no procedure in place to keep track of how many medical professionals have been diagnosed with mental illness, monitor how many have "recovered" or whether their mental health conditions affect their ability to provide adequate treatment to patients, Rep. Choo pointed out. He noted that the lack of oversight has allowed doctors with mental illness to practice medicine by hiding their health conditions.

Only one medical worker lost their medical qualification because of mental illness since the Medical Service Act was revised in 2007, according to the ministry. A nurse voluntarily requested that the ministry cancel her nursing license in September 2017, after being found to have schizophrenia.

"The Health Ministry should promptly establish a qualification procedure that verifies whether doctors diagnosed with mental illness have fully recovered so that the public can receive medical treatment without concerns about the quality or safety of the services," Rep. Choo underscored.