SoKor: No medical catastrophe despite doctor walkout
SEOUL (AFP) – South Korea said on Friday that reports of a “medical catastrophe” were overblown despite a near three-week walkout by junior doctors, but vowed to improve pay and conditions for medics.
Thousands of trainee doctors quit working on Feb. 20 over reforms aimed at easing doctor shortages by increasing the number of medical students – which they claim is the final straw for overworked and underpaid early career professionals.
Despite government warnings of legal action, including medical license suspensions, more doctors have joined the walkout this week, official data shows.
This has led to surgery cancellations, long wait times and delayed treatments at major hospitals.
Seoul has mobilized military doctors and earmarked millions of dollars of state reserves to ease service shortfalls, but denied there was a full-blown healthcare crisis.
“The term ‘medical catastrophe’ some are using to describe the situation is an exaggeration,” Second Vice Health Minister Park Minsoo told a press conference on Friday.
“It is absurd to suggest that medical care would become chaotic simply because resident doctors, who are in training, have left their posts.”
Park said the emergency health care system remained “stable,” adding that the government was still moving to suspend the medical licenses of doctors involved.
Even so, he urged medics to return to work, outlining new measures to improve pay and conditions for junior doctors, including a new one million won ($760 USD) monthly payment for pediatric trainees, plus a review of the continuous 36-hour work period, which is a major gripe of junior doctors.