Senior doctors in South Korea are planning to join their younger proteges on the picket lines by next week if the government does not resolve a three-week-old walkout over medical school enrollments.
The Medical Professors Association of Korea announced Tuesday that it had voted the day before to take action if the government follows through on a threat to suspend the junior doctors’ medical licenses if they refuse to return to work.
The association is urging the government to begin “unconditional” talks with the younger doctors to resolve the situation.
In a separate move Monday, professors at Seoul National University Hospital threatened to quit en masse if there is no “reasonable breakthrough” by early next week.
Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said the ultimatum expressed by the professors at the Seoul medical school will pose a threat to the health and lives of patients. Cho called on the senior doctors to persuade their junior colleagues to return to work.
About 12,000 junior doctors have been away from their jobs since February 19 over a government plan to increase the number of medical students from 3,000 to 5,000 by next year to adequately provide health care to South Korea’s rapidly aging population.
Doctors’ groups say that medical schools cannot handle the proposed increase, and that physicians need better pay and working conditions.
Critics say the doctors, some of the best-paid professionals in South Korea, are worried that an influx of new physicians will erode their incomes.
The government has opened military hospitals to the public and extended operating hours at several public hospitals.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.
