New chief of doctors’ group expected to step up protest against gov’t
Protests by the doctors’ community against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s planned medical school admissions quota hike are expected to intensify as the Korea Medical Association (KMA), the country’s biggest coalition of physicians, elected a new leader who has taken a firm stance against the policy.
Lim Hyun-taek, the head of the Korean Pediatric Association, was picked to lead the KMA, Tuesday, after thousands of trainee doctors walked off their jobs more than a month ago and medical professors began tendering resignations en masse to protest the government’s plan to add 2,000 slots to the admissions quota of the country’s 40 medical schools starting next year.
Lim has been one of the strongest opponents of the government’s quota hike plan, going as far as asserting that the current quota should be reduced by 500 to 1,000 instead.
His three-year tenure for the organization, which represents about 100,000 doctors who mainly operate local clinics, will officially commence on May 1. However, he is expected to initiate actions soon to halt the government’s plan.
After his election win was confirmed, Lim reaffirmed his hard-line stance, saying, “The KMA will launch a general strike if any of trainee doctors, medical professors or students are affected by the government’s administrative and legal actions.”
The government has classified the trainee doctors’ collective action as “illegal” and took steps to suspend the licenses of those who defy its return-to-work order.
Lim also demanded that “Yoon make an official apology for pushing ahead with the policy and fire Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong and Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo,” saying these are conditions for dialogue with the government.
His election as the KMA leader is expected to complicate the government’s ongoing attempt to hold talks with the doctors’ community to resolve the protracted health care standoff, which has already caused significant disruptions to medical services.
He claimed that Korea would not require many doctors in the future due to the population decline to be caused by the falling birthrate.
On March 19, Lim filed complaints with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials against the health minister and vice health minister for abusing their authority and interfering with the exercise of doctors’ rights.
Last month, Lim was referred to the prosecution for disobeying the request of the Presidential Security Service to change seats during a government-public debate presided over by Yoon at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital.
At that time, Lim asserted that presidential security officials were overly aggressive in pulling him from the crowd and shared a photo taken at the scene to support his claim.
Separately, the police investigation is currently ongoing after the Ministry of Health and Welfare filed a complaint against Lim for aiding and abetting the collective action by trainee doctors.
On Wednesday, the KMA’s emergency response committee asked Yoon to retract the quota hike plan and meet with striking trainee doctors on strike to find a breakthrough.