Senior South Korean Doctors To Quit En Masse

Senior doctors at dozens of hospitals in South Korea plan to submit their resignations in support of medical interns and residents who have been on strike for five weeks over the government’s push to sharply increase medical school admissions, their leader said, Hyung-jin Kim reported for the Associated Press (AP).

The senior doctors’ action won’t likely cause an immediate worsening of hospital operations in South Korea because they have said they would continue to work even after submitting their resignations. I Photo: Piotrus Wikimedia Commons

The senior doctors’ action won’t likely cause an immediate worsening of hospital operations in South Korea because they have said they would continue to work even after submitting their resignations.

But prospects for an early end to the medical impasse were also dim, as the doctors’ planned action comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol called for talks with doctors while suggesting a possible softening of punitive steps against the striking junior doctors.

The striking junior doctors represent less than 10% of South Korea’s 140,000 doctors. But in some major hospitals, they account for about 30%-40% of the doctors, assisting senior doctors during surgeries and dealing with inpatients while training.

About 12,000 interns and medical residents have faced impending suspensions of their licenses over their refusal to end their strikes, which have caused hundreds of canceled surgeries and other treatments at their hospitals.

They oppose the government’s plan to increase the country’s medical school admission cap by two-thirds, saying schools can’t handle such a steep increase in students and that it would eventually hurt South Korea’s medical services.

But officials say more doctors are urgently needed because South Korea has a rapidly aging population and its doctor-to-population ratio is one of the lowest in the developed world.

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