Kern Medical has lost its accreditation for its general surgery residency program, C.E.O. Russell Judd confirmed on Wednesday.
Judd says they don't know why their general surgeon program lost its accreditation, adding that they won't know for 60 days from April 5 because that's when the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) will give them that information via a letter.
Five other residency programs at Kern Medical remain unaffected.
There are currently 13 residents in the surgeon program. Five are leaving the program this year, so this decision isn't affecting them.
The rest of them, which are currently in years one through four of their residency, will have to find another place to finish their program.
Four other people applied to Kern Medical's surgeon residency program and were accepted. They will have to apply somewhere else also.
Kern Medical says they are the only hospital in Kern that offers residency programs. Judd also said that other operations in the hospital, such as the trauma center, will be unaffected. He did mention that their trauma center is particularly busy, so they'll be looking for physicians.
23 ABC reached out to The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), who told us they have "no oversight of residency programs and no information about the closure of this particular program."
23 ABC also reached out to ACGME to ask why Kern Medical's program was shut down; so far, we have not heard back.
