Doctors walk inside a general hospital in Seoul on June 3, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 4 (Korea Bizwire) — The health ministry is expected to announce a plan Tuesday to accept the resignations of trainee doctors, a source close to the matter said, in a move to help them seek other career paths or return to hospitals.
For months, the government has ordered trainee doctors, who have remained off the job since late February in protest of the government’s plan to boost the number of medical students, to return to hospitals, while banning hospitals from accepting their resignations.
Late last month, the government finalized the admission quota hike of some 1,500, marking the first such increase in 27 years.
With the admissions hike fixed, the government has weighed taking concessional steps to soothe the trainee doctors.
Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong plans to hold a press briefing later in the day on “issues related to medical reform,” the ministry said, without elaborating.
Cho is expected to unveil other plans, including how to deal with the license suspension of trainee doctors who have defied the return-to-work order, according to the source.
About 12,000 trainee doctors have left their worksites, causing disruptions in public health services at major hospitals.
The medical community, meanwhile, remained unresponsive to the government’s call to engage in dialogue, calling for the complete scrapping of the medical reform plan before launching any form of talks.
The Korea Medical Association, the largest doctors’ organization, plans to vote this week on whether to carry out a strike, including the participation of community doctors.
(Yonhap)
