South Korea’s president vowed on Monday not to back down in the face of an outcry from doctors trying to derail his plans to dramatically increase medical school enrollment, calling their strike “illegal collective action” that poses a serious threat to our society. ”
About 12,000 medical interns and residents in South Korea have been on strike for six weeks, causing hundreds of surgeries and other treatments to be canceled at university hospitals. In order to support their actions, many senior doctors from their schools also resigned, but they did not stop treating patients.
Officials say they want to increase the annual enrollment cap at medical schools by 2,000 students from the current 3,058 to train more doctors to deal with the country’s rapidly aging population. Doctors countered that schools were unable to cope with the sudden increase in pupils, which would ultimately harm the country’s health services. But critics say doctors are among the highest-paid professions in South Korea and they simply worry that increasing the number of doctors will lead to lower incomes in the future.
Public surveys show that a majority of ordinary South Koreans support the government plan. But observers say many are growing tired of the protracted confrontation between the government and doctors, which could deal a blow to ruling party candidates ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol said in a nationally televised address that at least 2,000 more medical students are needed to address the shortage of doctors in rural areas, the military and in important but low-paying occupations such as pediatrics and emergency medicine. Yoon said South Korea’s doctor-to-patient ratio (2.1 doctors per 1,000 people) is well below the developed country average of 3.7.
“Increasing the number of doctors is a national project and we cannot delay it any longer,” he said.
Yin urged striking doctors to return to work and said they had a responsibility to protect people’s lives under local medical laws. He also said the government was still willing to negotiate if doctors put forward a unified proposal that fully explained their call for a significant reduction in medical school admissions quotas.
“I cannot condone attempts to impose their ideas without sound logic and reason,” Yin said. “The illegal collective action of some doctors has become a serious threat to our society.”
Yin said the recruitment plan will not lead to a drop in doctors’ income, saying national income and demand for medical services in a rapidly aging society are expected to increase. He said the average income of Korean doctors is the highest among developed countries.
Late on Monday, the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which represents South Korean doctors, criticized Yoon for repeating arguments the government had already made in support of the recruitment plan.
“This speech makes us more disappointed because we had high hopes for some changes in the government’s stance,” KMA emergency committee spokesman Kim Sung-geun told reporters.
Yin said the government was taking final administrative measures to revoke the strikers’ licenses, but added that he did not want to punish the young doctors. That means his government is willing to ease punitive measures against strikers if they return to work soon.
Yoon recently ordered officials to take “flexible measures” to resolve disputes and seek constructive consultations with doctors at the request of ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon.
It’s unclear whether the government and doctors will be able to find a breakthrough soon to resolve the impasse. Last week, the KMA elected hardliner Lim Hyun-taek as its new dean, who has called for lowering the cap on medical school admissions.
After being elected on Tuesday, Lam said doctors could sit down and negotiate with the government if Yin apologizes and fires senior health officials involved in the recruitment plan. Lam also threatened to launch an all-out struggle if any doctors were punished for the recent protests.
The junior doctors on strike represent only a small fraction of the total number of doctors in South Korea – Yoon estimates 115,000 and the Doctors Association estimates 140,000. But in some large hospitals, they account for about 30% to 40% of doctors. They assist qualified doctors and department heads in performing surgeries and other treatments while training.
Doctors say the government’s enrollment plan lacks measures to address key medical issues, such as how to increase the number of doctors in some critical but unpopular professions. Newly recruited students will also try their hand at jobs in the Capital Region and in high-paying fields such as plastic surgery and dermatology, they said. They said the government scheme could also lead to doctors prescribing unnecessary treatments due to increased competition.
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