By Kim Rahn

A doctors’ group has decided to scrap plans to boycott operations for a week next month in protest against the government’s adoption of a new medical fee system which it claims will cut their incomes.

Roh Hwan-kyu, president of the Korean Medical Association, said Friday that the doctors will not refuse to perform operations.

The decision comes two days before the implementation of the new system, called the diagnosis related group (DRG) payment system, under which patients pay for hospital services in a bundle.

“We temporarily accept the government’s enforcement of the DRG for seven medical fields operations,” Roh said in a media briefing at the association’s building in Seoul.

The group decided to scrap the collective action after Rep. Chung Mong-joon of the Saenuri Party pledged to try to improve the government committee reviewing the national health insurance policy. Chung is the chief director of the Asan Medical Center.

Under the system, patients pay less in medical fees because health insurance coverage is included in the price system. The system prevents doctors from forcing patients to undergo unnecessary tests, operations and other medical services, which were often conducted under the current fee-for-service payment system.

It will apply to seven types of operations ― cataracts, tonsil and appendix removal, hernias and hemorrhoid repairs, uterine surgery and cesarean sections.

Doctors have opposed the new system, claiming it will lower the quality of medical services and discourage them from providing proper and decent treatment, as well as cause them significant financial losses.