Senior doctors at South Korea’s major hospitals began handing in their resignations en masse on Monday in support of residents and trainee doctors who have been on strike for five weeks against the government’s surge in admissions to medical schools.
Senior doctors have said they intend to continue working even after submitting their resignations, so their actions are unlikely to cause an immediate deterioration in hospital management in South Korea. However, after President Yoon Seok-Yeol called for consultations with doctors and suggested the possibility of easing punitive measures against young doctors who went on strike, the doctors took deliberate measures. Given this, the prospects for an early end to the medical impasse are also bleak.
Approximately 12,000 medical interns and trainees face imminent suspension of their licenses for refusing to end the strike, which has resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of surgeries and other treatments at hospitals. .
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They oppose the government’s plan to raise the cap on medical school admissions by two-thirds, saying schools will not be able to accommodate such rapid student growth and will ultimately have a negative impact on South Korea’s medical services. are doing. But officials say more doctors are urgently needed as South Korea is rapidly aging and has one of the lowest ratios of doctors to population among developed countries. ing.
In a meeting with ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon on Sunday, representatives of medical professors and doctors from the approximately 40 university hospitals where young doctors worked during their training said the government’s recruitment plan would “collapse our medical system.” ”, expressing support for the striking doctors. We will prepare the country’s medical system,” Kim Chang-soo, chairman of the emergency committee of these universities, said on Monday.
Kim called Yoon’s offer a positive step, but said the current conflict between doctors and the government will not be resolved unless the government withdraws its recruitment plan.
Medical professors line up to submit their resignations during a conference at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea, March 25, 2024. (Yun Dong-jin/Yonhap News, Associated Press)
He said the university’s doctors were expected to voluntarily submit their resignations and stick to their previous plan to reduce their working hours to the legal limit of 52 hours a week. Observers say senior doctors are struggling with excessive workloads after juniors leave the hospital.
“If the government intends to withdraw or consider the plan, we are ready to discuss all outstanding issues with the government in front of the people,” Kim said.
An unspecified number of senior doctors submitted their resignations late Monday, according to doctors who took part in the protests. Some doctors reportedly already submitted their resignations last week.
After Sunday’s meeting, Han called on Yun’s office to “respond flexibly” to the issue of planned license suspensions for striking doctors. Yun urged the prime minister to pursue “flexible measures” to resolve the dispute and seek constructive consultations with doctors, his office said.
It is unclear whether the government and doctors will hold talks and reach a solution, and how quickly a solution will be reached. Some officials believe that the government is likely to ease penalties for striking doctors and that pursuing dialogue with doctors is unlikely to come as further disruption to hospital operations would not be beneficial to ruling party candidates. They point out that the incident is likely related to the parliamentary elections in February.
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The young doctors who are attracting attention account for less than 10% of South Korea’s 140,000 doctors. However, in some large hospitals, they account for 30 to 40% of the doctors, assisting senior doctors in surgeries, and caring for inpatients during their training.
According to a public survey, the majority of South Koreans support the government’s push to increase the number of doctors, and doctors, one of South Korea’s highest-paid professions, are concerned about a decline in income due to the increase in the number of doctors. critics point out.
Officials say more doctors are needed to address a long-standing shortage of doctors in rural areas and essential but low-paying specialties. But doctors say the newly recruited students will also seek work in metropolitan areas or in high-paying fields such as plastic surgery and dermatology. They say the government’s plan also means doctors are likely to provide unnecessary treatment due to increased competition.
