The number of doctors at the so-called "Big Five" hospitals in the capital region decreased by 36 percent since the dispute between the government and the medical community over student quotas.

According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on Sunday, as of the end of December, four-thousand-570 doctors were working at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul National University Hospital, St. Mary's Hospital, Asan Medical Center and Severance Hospital.

The figure represents a decrease of 35-point-nine percent from seven-thousand-132 at the end of 2023, before the conflict between the government and medical doctors. 

Seoul National University Hospital experienced the largest drop, with a 40-point-eight percent decrease from around 16-hundred in 2023 to 950 last year.

Severance Hospital suffered the second-largest decrease at 37-point-eight percent, followed by Asan Medical Center and Samsung Medical Center. 

The drop is mainly attributed to the departure of trainee doctors, with the number of interns and residents at the five hospitals plunging by over 97 percent and nearly 90 percent, respectively, during the period.