The protracted conflict between the government and doctors over the medical school quota hike policy will face its toughest challenge yet this week, with the authorities determined to suspend the licenses of the striking trainee doctors, starting from Tuesday at the earliest.
In response, medical school professors, who hold the highest rank among medical professionals, are set to tender their resignations en masse, beginning Monday, in solidarity with the trainee doctors.
The conflict began after the government announced a decision on Feb. 6 to add 2,000 more slots to enrollment quotas at medical schools, starting next year, to address the shortage of physicians. The current admissions quotas of the 40 medical schools in Korea are set at a total of 3,058.
In protest, more than 90 percent of the nation’s 13,000 trainee doctors have been on strike — in the form of mass resignations — saying that the quota expansion policy will compromise the quality of medical education and training.
With both sides showing little signs of backing off, the health care standoff, which has already caused substantial disruptions for patients, such as the postponement and rescheduling of surgeries and other procedures, is feared to worsen.
Expressing their objection to the government’s policy and calling for its withdrawal, professors of medical schools nationwide will begin submitting their resignations on Monday, and will reduce their work hours to 52 hours a week — set as the official workweek by law — by adjusting the schedules of surgeries and other treatments, according to the Medical Professors Association of Korea, which represents professors from 39 medical schools.
Starting April 1, these professors will also “minimize” their consultation hours for outpatients and focus on patients in critical or emergency situations.
Doctors walk through large hallway in a hospital in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
Despite looming resignations by medical professors, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is sticking to its stance, saying it will respond to the collective actions of doctors, which it says are illegal, in accordance with the relevant laws and guidelines. The ministry stressed that the plan to increase the number of medical students by 2,000 is not negotiable.
It has already initiated the necessary administrative steps to suspend the licenses of striking doctors who defied its return-to-work order. The suspension of the licenses for up to three months is expected to begin as of Tuesday for some.
According to the ministry, those who receive a three-month suspension of their license will be unable to fulfill the training period requirements, and consequently, this delay will postpone their qualification as medical specialists by more than a year.
The presidential office urged trainee doctors to return to their respective hospitals before the procedure to suspend their licenses is completed, apparently mindful of concerns that doctors’ protests are expected to intensify further if the suspension is actually implemented.
“We can take administrative and legal action against the striking trainee doctors as there are laws and principles. But, if possible, the government wishes not to take such steps,” Sung Tae-yoon, director of national policy at the presidential office, said during his recent appearance on a KBS TV program.
In preparation for the prolonged medical services vacuum, the government will deploy an additional 200 military and public health doctors to hospitals that are affected by the nationwide walkout, Monday. With them, the number of such doctors mobilized by the government will increase to 413.
Military doctors are commissioned officers, while public health doctors are conscripts for the supplementary service — a category of mandatory military service in Korea — that requires them to work in underserved areas for three years.
The government has also temporarily allowed senior doctors who operate local clinics to work at the affected hospitals upon request.
