Gov’t, medical community clash over int’l labor rules
Striking trainee doctors take health care standoff to UN agency
The government and the medical community hold highly divergent views on whether a back-to-work order imposed on striking trainee doctors, protesting a medical school quota hike policy, violates international labor standards.
The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), an association of trainee doctors, claimed the government’s order violates one of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) conventions that bans forced labor. In this regard, KIRA sent a letter to the ILO on Wednesday, asking the U.N. agency to intervene in the ongoing government-doctor conflict in Korea.
In contrast, the government defended its directive as a “justifiable measure,” citing exceptions to the ILO’s rules, arguing that the doctors’ walkout posed a threat to public safety, thus necessitating such action.
The latest clash came as more than 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors, comprising interns and resident doctors, have embarked on a mass resignation for more than three weeks to protest the government’s decision to increase enrollment quotas at medical schools by 2,000 spots starting next year. The total admissions quota of the 40 medical schools in Korea has remained unchanged at 3,058 since 2006.
Due to the substantial disruptions to medical services, including surgery cancellations, caused by the walkout, the Ministry of Health and Welfare imposed the back-to-work order on striking doctors and initiated procedures to suspend the licenses of those who defied the decree.
ILO Convention No. 29, also known as the Forced Labor Convention, stipulates that member countries should “suppress the use of forced or compulsory labor in all its forms.” Korea ratified the convention in April 2021.
KIRA accused the government of violating this convention, contending that it forced trainee doctors, who it said voluntarily left their worksites, to return to work.
“The government should immediately stop mobilizing state power to threaten trainee doctors and force them to work,” Park Dan, who heads KIRA, said.
Medical lawyer Cho Jin-seok of law firm Ohkims, who offers legal advice to striking trainee doctors, also said hospitals’ refusal to accept the resignations of trainee doctors, as instructed by the government, constitutes forced labor.
The government disagrees, however, citing exceptional clauses of the convention.
Article 2 of the convention stipulates that the term “forced or compulsory labor” does not include any work or service exacted in cases of war or calamity and “in general any circumstance that would endanger the existence or the well-being of the whole or part of the population.”
Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said the walkout by trainee doctors has caused setbacks in health care services, threatening the safety of the public.
“We believe the ongoing situation falls under the exception to the convention,” Park said during a media briefing, Thursday.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor supported the health ministry, calling the back-to-work order a justifiable measure to protect people’s lives.
The labor ministry also pointed out that KIRA’s request for ILO intervention is different from an official complaint.
“When an intervention is requested, the ILO asks for comments from a relevant government and delivers the comments to the labor group which requested it. The agency then closes the case without follow-up measures such as issuing advice,” the ministry said.