Seoul gives young doctors four days to end walkouts, threatens suspended licences, prosecutions
JUNIOR DOCTORS in South Korea have four days to end their walkouts or they will have their medical licences suspended and face prosecution, the government said Monday.
About 9,000 medical interns and residents have stayed off the job since early last week to protest a government plan to increase medical school admissions by about 65 per cent. The walkouts have severely hurt the operations of their hospitals, with numerous cancellations of surgeries and other treatments.
Government officials say adding more doctors is necessary to deal with South Korea’s rapidly ageing population. The country’s current doctor-to-patient ratio is among the lowest in the developed world.
The strikers say universities can’t handle so many new students and argue the plan would not resolve a chronic shortage of doctors in some key but low-paying areas like paediatrics and emergency departments.
Vice Health Minister Park Minsoo said during a televised briefing Monday that the government won’t seek any disciplinary action against striking doctors if they return to work by Thursday.
“We want them to return to work by the end of this month, February 29. If they return to the hospitals they had left by then, we won’t hold them responsible” for any damage caused by their walkouts, Park said. “It’s not too late. Please, return to patients immediately.”
But he said those who don’t meet the deadline will be punished with a minimum threemonth suspension of their medical licences and face further legal steps such as investigations and possible indictments.
Under South Korea’s medical law, the government can issue back-to-work orders to doctors and other medical personnel when it sees grave risks to public health. Refusing to abide by such an order can bring suspensions of their licences and up to three years in prison or a 30 million won ($22,480) fine. Those who receive prison sentences would be stripped of their medical licences.
The Korea Medical Association, which represents about 140,000 doctors, has said it supports the striking doctors but hasn’t determined whether to join the trainee doctors’ walkouts. Senior doctors have held a series of rallies voicing opposition to the government’s plan in recent days.