South Korea to droop physician licences as strike disaster escalates | Well being Information

Some 9,000 docs walked off the job two weeks in the past over authorities plans to extend medical faculty admissions.

South Korea has mentioned it’s going to droop the licences of trainee docs who’ve ignored an ultimatum to finish a strike over authorities plans to extend medical faculty admissions.

About 9,000 junior docs walked out on February 20, resulting in the cancellation of some operations and coverings in addition to hampering the operation of hospitals’ emergency items.

On Monday, Well being Minister Cho Kyoo-hong mentioned the authorities would go to hospitals to seek out out whether or not the docs had returned to work and “take motion in line with the regulation and precept with out exception”.

Talking in a televised briefing, he mentioned those that had not returned “might expertise critical issues of their private profession path”.

The docs taking strike motion are a fraction of South Korea’s 140,000 docs. However they account for as many as 40 p.c of the entire docs at some main hospitals.

Hundreds took to the streets of Seoul on Sunday at a mass rally organised by the Korean Medical Affiliation (KMA), which represents non-public practitioners, defying a February 29 authorities deadline for them to return to work or face authorized motion, together with doable arrest.

The docs say the federal government ought to first tackle pay and dealing situations earlier than attempting to extend the variety of physicians.

“The federal government is pushing the reforms unilaterally and that, the docs can not settle for beneath any circumstances”, Kim Taek-woo of the Korea Medical Affiliation advised the gang of protesters, who wore black masks.

Below South Korean regulation, docs are restricted from taking strike motion.

“The federal government may be very conscious of the explanation why all docs are opposing the rise within the medical faculty admissions however are exploiting insurance policies to show docs into slaves ceaselessly.”

The federal government says the transfer to extend the variety of college students admitted to medical faculties by 2,000 from the 2025 tutorial yr is critical due to the quickly ageing inhabitants and the nation’s low variety of docs to sufferers. At 2.6 docs per 1,000 folks, South Korea’s charge is without doubt one of the lowest within the developed world.

The plan to spice up medical faculty admissions is well-liked with the general public, with about 76 p.c of respondents in favour, no matter political affiliation, in line with a current Gallup Korea ballot.

President Yoon Suk-yeol has taken a tough line on the strike and has seen his approval scores climb because the standoff drags on.

With legislative elections in April and Yoon’s celebration seeking to win again a parliamentary majority, the federal government is unlikely to compromise rapidly, analysts mentioned.

However docs have additionally pledged to not again down, saying the federal government’s plan didn’t tackle the sector’s actual issues.

“We’ve nowhere to retreat any extra. We is not going to simply sit idly by the federal government appearing undemocratic,” Lee Jeong-geun, the interim head of the KMA, mentioned at Sunday’s protest.