aAnxiety is rising at South Korea’s largest hospital, where concerns are starting to rise over the widespread absence of thousands of trainee doctors who are on strike against the government’s plan to expand the intake of medical students.
The strike is reportedly affecting operations at major hospitals, despite a number of emergency measures announced by the government this week. Brain tumor patients told AFP that chemotherapy had been postponed even though the cancer had spread to their lungs and liver, while pregnant women said their Caesarean sections had been canceled. The Ministry of Health said it had received about 150 complaints from the public regarding the strike.
The number of participants continues to snowball, with 74% of trainees (more than 9,200) offering to resign. Deputy Health Minister Park Min-soo said at a press conference Thursday that more than 8,000 people have left their jobs.
With junior doctors leaving the profession en masse, nurses have been left behind to carry out tasks normally reserved for doctors, such as signing consent forms and tending wounds, local media reported. Reported.
The Korean Young Nurses Association publicly called on doctors to refrain from participating in the strike. “If more medical residents go on strike, nurses will have to not only take on the duties of doctors, but also address patient complaints,” the group wrote in a social media post. “Nurses are required by law to take full responsibility if something goes wrong with the patient during the process.”
Meanwhile, Park Min-soo said on Thursday that the authorities would not accept the resignation letters from the trainee doctors and asked them to consider the impact of the strike. “Physician power does not come from collective action,” he says. “Remember that your patients are waiting for you at this very moment.”
The country’s 13,000 trainee doctors are critical to the health system, and the country already has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the developed world.
The strike comes amid protests over government plans to add 2,000 medical students to the annual quota, which currently stands at around 3,000. Although the plan has strong support from the public, it has also faced protests from doctors.
Critics say medical professionals fear that the increase in the number of doctors will erode some of the field’s social prestige and competitive salaries. Although medicine is one of the most popular fields among Korean university students and their families, many young doctors tend to gravitate towards more lucrative specialties such as dermatology and cosmetic surgery.
The South Korean government is actively trying to encourage doctors to enter relatively less popular departments such as pediatrics, emergency department, and general surgery.
read more: Why are Korean doctors on strike?
Some doctors, however, argue that expanding capacity in these departments, which are known for low wages and long working hours, will not address existing labor shortages. The Korean Medical Training Association said in a statement Tuesday that despite the association’s request for a “reasonable estimate” of the number of doctors needed, “the government announced radical medical school quota policies to gain political votes. I did,” he said.
On social media, doctors who went on strike have been criticized, with their standoff with authorities over the issue being likened to a “medical cartel.”
“If patients who need surgery don’t get it right away, they could die.” I wrote something else. “A strike by doctors is therefore a punishable act.”
The People’s Livelihood Task Force, a civic group, announced on Wednesday that it had filed a complaint with the police against the striking trainee doctors and medical association leaders on suspicion of violating the Medical Care Act.
Taking a hardline stance, authorities announced on Wednesday that they would seek arrest warrants for the strike leaders. The government also ordered more than 6,000 medical trainees to return to work and threatened legal action against those who did not comply with the order.
The authorities said on Wednesday that “if their illegal collective actions actually cause harm to the lives and health of patients,” the trainee doctors “will be held accountable to the highest level.”
