This undated file photo shows a sign of a public health clinic. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Apr. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The government allowed community health centers to provide remote clinical services via video or phone appointments on Wednesday, a senior official said, as a mass walkout by junior doctors has disrupted public health services at major hospitals for more than six weeks.
Telemedicine services have been extended to all hospitals since Feb. 23 to cope with the doctors’ labor action, but community health centers were excluded.
“From today, contact-free treatment institutions are expanded to public health centers and their branch offices,” Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters.
There are 246 public health centers and 1,341 branch offices in South Korea, Park said.
About 12,000 trainee doctors have been on strike in the form of mass resignations since Feb. 20, with medical professors having submitted resignations in support of the walkout.
Medical professors, who are senior doctors at major hospitals, also began cutting their working hours Monday to cope with growing fatigue caused by the protracted walkout by junior doctors.
To cope with the hike in the number of medical students, the government also plans to increase the number of medical professors by 1,000.
Universities are advised to submit their opinions to the government by next Monday on how many more professors will be needed, Park said.
(Yonhap)
