SEOUL: A group of South Korean senior doctors said on Saturday that they would tender resign from March 25 in support of junior medics in a nearly a month-long strike over government training reforms, leading to chaos in hospitals.
Since February 20, thousands of trainee doctors have been holding protest demonstration against government reforms aimed at alleviating doctor shortages by increasing the number of medical students.
The strike has resulted in the cancellation of crucial surgeries and treatments, although the government claims the country has thus far managed to avert a full-blown crisis, partly due to the efforts of nurses, senior doctors, and military medics who have been deployed to assist. Representatives of medical professors at 20 universities, also serving as senior doctors at general hospitals, convened a meeting late Friday, with the majority of those at 16 institutions expressing strong support for their junior colleagues.
Bang Jae-seung, the group’s leader, stated that professors at each university had agreed to voluntarily submit resignation letters. Bang did not disclose the exact number of professors expected to participate in the walkout on March 25.
Meanwhile, the health ministry reiterated its stance this week, insisting that negotiations over the reforms were non-negotiable and that it would proceed with healthcare reforms without hesitation.
Additionally, the government has offered incentives and established a hotline to support those who defy the strike. Seoul aims to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 students annually from next year, citing one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among developed nations.
