South Korean trainee doctors stop work
Strike protests 65 percent increase in medical schools admissions
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean hospitals turned away some patients and delayed surgeries on Tuesday as hundreds of trainee doctors stopped working in a protest against medical training reforms.
Almost 6,500 doctors submitted their resignations — nearly half the junior workforce — with 1,600 walking off the job, according to health ministry figures.
But South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said the government would not back down over the “necessary” reforms, which he described as an essential measure to prepare for caring for the country’s fastaging population.
The training reforms call for a 65 percent increase in the number of students admitted to medical schools — an additional 2,000 people a year — starting from 2025.
Seoul has been trying to increase medical school enrollments for 30 years to no avail, he said, adding that the country was at a point where “we can’t withstand another failure.”
“This increase is far short of necessary numbers to prepare the future of our nation,” he said, urging doctors not to “hold people’s lives and health hostage” with work stoppages.
The government has ordered the doctors back to work, and police have warned of arrests for instigators of the work stoppages. South Korean law limits the ability of medical staff to strike.
Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that the walkouts had already resulted in cancellations of surgeries and disruptions in medical services.
The government’s top priority is to “maintain medical emergency services and treatment for serious cases at major hospitals,” he said, to “avoid situations in which patients with serious conditions are prevented from accessing treatment.”