SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) — Leading groups of doctors and medical professors will meet Wednesday to discuss next steps against the government’s medical reform plan after threatening to launch an indefinite strike last week. next week, their representatives said.
On Tuesday, some community doctors and medical professors affiliated with the Korean Medical Association (KMA) staged a one-day strike and threatened to launch an indefinite strike on June 27 unless the Government gives in to their demands.
The KMA will hold a meeting with groups of medical professors and an emergency committee of doctors from hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University (SNU) later on Wednesday to “discuss what to do together next against the Government’s measures,” said a council representative.
The KMA has demanded the Government to reconsider the increase in medical school quotas, as well as some of its reform measures aimed at strengthening essential medical fields, and to withdraw punitive measures against trainee doctors and medical students .
Trainee doctors have walked out of their jobs since late February, protesting against the decision to increase vacancies, and medical professors – who work as senior doctors in SNU-affiliated hospitals – suspended their services on Monday, while hopes more major hospitals will follow suit.
The KMA plans to launch a new community-level medical response committee on Thursday, which will lead its movements against the government. The envisioned entity would include striking medical professors and trainee doctors.
The Government has flatly rejected the doctors’ demand to reconsider the increase in the admission quota and has promised severe responses to any illegal measure.
Last month, the Government already finalized an increase in the admission quota – by around 1,500 places – for medical schools, which represents the first increase of this type in 27 years.
The months-long standoff between the government and doctors has disrupted the country’s healthcare system and there appears to be no immediate progress in sight.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, about 14.9 percent of the country’s 36,059 community hospitals, excluding dental and oriental medicine clinics, participated in Tuesday’s strike.
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