Seoul, South Korea — South Korean authorities issued return-to-work orders to doctors who participated in a one-day strike on Tuesday, as part of a prolonged strike against the government’s plans to increase admissions to medical schools starting next month. year.
Since February, more than 12,000 trainee doctors were on strike in an increasing impasse with government officials, who wants to increase the number of doctors in the country by up to 10,000 by 2035. Many reject the plan, saying schools will not be able to handle the increased influx and that the quality of the country’s medical services would suffer.
About 4% of the country’s 36,000 private medical facilities, classified as clinics, told authorities they would take part in a one-day strike on Tuesday, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The strike came a day after hundreds of medical school professors at four major hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University went on an indefinite strike, raising concerns about disruptions to medical services.
There is a possibility that the strike will expand. Speaking at a rally attended by thousands of doctors in Seoul on Tuesday, Lim Hyun-taek, the hardline leader of the Korean Medical Association, said he will push for its members to go on an indefinite strike on June 27. If the government rejects its demands it will completely abandon plans to increase admissions to medical schools. KMA is the largest medical lobby in the country, with more than 100,000 members.
South Korean Vice Health Minister Jun Byung-wang said the one-day clinic strike and walkout by SNU-affiliated medical teachers did not immediately cause significant problems in medical services.
He accused the prolonged strike of threatening to destroy a “relationship of trust between doctors and patients that our society has long built.”
“We cannot allow unlimited freedom to the medical profession,” Jun said on Tuesday. “Because they benefit from a medical licensing system that limits the supply (of doctors) and guarantees a monopoly on the profession, doctors must defend their end of professional and ethical responsibilities and legal obligations under medical law.”
Under South Korean law, doctors who defy return-to-work orders can face suspensions of their licenses or other punishments.
Jun said they plan to ask hospitals to file damages suits against striking medical teachers if their strikes prolong and disrupt medical services. He said hospitals that do not respond sufficiently to the shutdowns could face disadvantages in health insurance compensation and that the government plans to take legal action against any hospital that cancels treatments booked for patients without notifying them in advance.
At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol called the month-long strike “regrettable” and warned that his government will respond severely to “illegal activities that abandon patients.”
The striking doctors suffered a significant legal setback in May when the Seoul High Court rejected his request to block the government’s planwhich would increase the annual medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 from the current limit of 3,058.
South Korea has one of the lowest numbers of doctors relative to population among developed economies.
Government officials say the country needs significantly more doctors to deal with the rapidly aging population and downplayed doctors’ concerns about a possible decline in future earnings.
The striking doctors are a fraction of all doctors in South Korea, estimated to number between 115,000 and 140,000. Still, the strikes have resulted in the cancellation of countless surgeries and other treatments at some large hospitals, which rely more on junior doctors and interns.
Government officials previously threatened suspend licenses of doctors on strike, but later suspended these administrative measures to facilitate dialogue.
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