S. Korean Government Issues Medical License Suspension Notices to Nearly 5,000 Striking Trainee Doctors

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The South Korean government has completed the process of notifying almost 5,000 trainee doctors about the potential suspension of their medical licenses. This action comes as a response to the ongoing strike by roughly 12,000 medical interns and residents who are protesting government policies.

Fill in the Gaps

In an attempt to fill the vacuum created by the striking medical trainees, Seoul has dispatched military and public health doctors to major hospitals. A call center has also been set up to support those trainee doctors who have decided to return to work or are considering doing so.

Chun Byung-wang, the head of medical policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated that these notifications are prior warnings about administrative penalties for those trainee doctors violating the back-to-work order.

Widespread Industrial Action

As of March 8, 11,994 trainee doctors at 100 teaching hospitals, representing 92.9% of the total, were either boycotting work or had abandoned their contracts. On the same day, the Ministry of Health and Welfare notified 4,944 trainee doctors defying back-to-work orders about their potential suspension.

The Health Ministry is currently working on sending out similar notices to the other striking doctors. It was also stated that 20 military doctors and 138 public health doctors, a total of 158, have been assigned to 20 major hospitals to make up for the shortfall caused by the mass resignations of the doctors.

Future Measures

The newly assigned doctors will begin providing care after training, which is set to begin on Wednesday. Plans are in place to dispatch an additional 200 public health doctors to various hospitals as early as next week.

In light of these developments, professors at various medical schools across the country are forming emergency action committees to discuss potential solutions to the professional setbacks facing trainee doctors submitting collective resignations and medical students boycotting classes in solidarity with the trainee doctors.