Medical staff walk through a hospital corridor in Seoul in this photo from April 25, 2024. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 30 (Korea Bizwire) – Medical professors working for three general hospitals in Seoul suspended outpatient clinics and surgeries Tuesday amid a prolonged walkout by junior doctors, but no major disruptions have been reported, officials said.
Some professors, who serve as senior doctors at Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital and Korea University Hospital, took a day off in support of the walkout by trainee doctors who oppose the government’s plan to boost the number of medical students by 2,000 starting next year.
“Not all professors joined the one-day suspension as they’ve decided to join the move on a voluntary basis. Some of the planned surgeries and treatments have continued,” a SNU hospital official said.
Emergency rooms and inpatient care have remained in place at the hospitals.
“There was no hospital that completely halted operations, and no major disruptions were reported. But the government will closely monitor the circumstances for proper responses to minimize any impacts on seriously ill patients and those in emergency situations,” Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told a press briefing.
The medical community cited heavy workloads and extreme fatigue as major reasons for the move by professors, but it is also seen as a way of adding pressure on the government to seek a breakthrough as the plan on the medical school admission quota for next year is supposed to be finalized by end-April.
About 12,000 trainee doctors have left their worksites since Feb. 20, and the government and doctors have failed to find a breakthrough to their conflict.
But concerns have grown over the worsening vacuum in the health care service as a significant number of senior doctors at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Yongin Severance Hospital and Korea University Ansan Hospital were set to join the move.
Professors at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital are preparing to suspend noncritical surgical services every Friday as well, with those at Asan Medical Center also planning a day off on the same day.
The health ministry has vowed to deploy more military doctors to cope with the weekly breaks.
The government has said the admission quota hike is necessary to address a shortage of doctors, particularly in essential medical fields and medical systems in rural areas, and is a crucial part of the medical reform plan.
Under the plan, the government will invest 1.4 trillion won (US$1.01 trillion) in essential medical fields, such as pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine, this year with a goal to earmark more than 10 trillion won by 2028, according to the health ministry.
Nurses are busy taking care of patients at a hospital in Seoul on Feb. 27, 2024, when the health ministry announced a measure to allow them to conduct some roles of doctors under legal protection to fill the medical vacuum caused by a prolonged walkout by nearly 10,000 trainee doctors protesting against the government’s plan to increase the number of medical students. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The government’s policy, meanwhile, was perceived as gaining traction after President Yoon Suk Yeol and Lee Jae-myung, the head of the main opposition Democratic Party, agreed on the need for medical reform the previous day.
Lee promised the party’s active cooperation on the government’s medical reform plans, including its decision to increase admissions to medical schools.
Prospects for an agreement between the government and the medical community in the near future, however, are also seen as slim as Lim Hyun-taek, the hawkish president-elect of the Korean Medical Association, begins his term Wednesday.
Lim has been claiming that the medical community will not engage in any dialogue until the government completely scraps the medical reform plan.
(Yonhap)
