Protesting doctors say government should first address wages and working conditions
Seoul, Korea:
South Korea’s health minister said on Monday that authorities would start inspecting hospitals to take legal action against trainee doctors who ignored an ultimatum to end a strike over government plans to increase medical school admissions.
About 9,000 residents and interns – about 70% of the nation’s doctors – have been on strike since February 20, causing some surgeries and treatments to be canceled and emergency rooms to be overwhelmed.
The government warned protesting trainee doctors that if they did not return to work by the end of last month, they could face administrative and legal penalties, including the revocation of their medical licenses, fines or imprisonment.
“Starting today, we plan to conduct on-site inspections to identify trainee doctors who have not returned and take action in accordance with the law and principles without exception,” Health Minister Cho Kyu-hong said in a televised briefing.
“Keep in mind that doctors who don’t come back may have serious problems with their personal career paths.”
Regarding the protesting doctors who returned to the scene, Zhu said the government would consider extenuating circumstances when considering any action against them.
Subsequently, Vice Minister of Health Park Min-soo said at a press conference that the government will take measures to revoke the medical licenses of approximately 7,000 retired intern doctors.
So far, neither side has shown any signs of backing down. Thousands of South Korean doctors held a mass rally on Sunday organized by the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which represents private doctors, defying official calls for trainee doctors to return to work.
The World Medical Association, an organization representing doctors, said in a statement on Sunday that it “strongly condemns the Korean government’s attempts to silence the voices of elected leaders within the Korean Medical Association,” adding that it affirmed doctors’ rights to act collectively, Including strikes.
Protesting young doctors say the government should first address pay and working conditions before trying to increase the number of doctors.
The government says plans to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 students from 2025 are needed in a rapidly aging society that has the lowest doctor-to-patient ratio among advanced economies at 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people. .
A recent Gallup Korea poll found that plans to increase medical school enrollment are popular with the public, with about 76% of respondents supporting it regardless of political affiliation.
However, some critics accuse President Yoon Seok-yeol’s government of not conducting enough consultations and of stirring up disputes over the issue ahead of parliamentary elections in April.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
