Doctors put strike on hold
Korean Medical Association (KMA) President Roh Hwan-kyu talks to a government official on the phone before announcing the result of a members’ vote on whether to accept a pact signed between the government and the KMA, at its office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, Thursday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han
By Nam Hyun-woo
The Korea Medical Association (KMA) said Thursday that its members had voted to postpone a strike scheduled for next week.
The doctors’ group said 25,628 out of 41,226 members (62.16 percent) agreed to accept an agreement signed Monday between the KMA and the Ministry of Health and Welfare on key medical issues.
The KMA said it decided to postpone the six-day strike which it had planned to start Monday.
KMA President Roh Hwan-kyu said, “I sincerely apologize to citizens who may have worried about disruptions to medical services. Please kindly understand doctors’ efforts to protect the public’s health.”
However, he said the vote does not mean that the KMA will withdraw its protest completely.
“If the government unilaterally pushes medical policies that pose a threat to public health, the KMA will fight to fulfill its responsibility.”
The decision came after the KMA and the health ministry agreed to run pilot projects for telemedicine before tabling a revised medical bill on this. Also, the government promised to reconstitute a committee reviewing health insurance premiums and fees.
They had been in conflict because doctors opposed the government’s plan to introduce telemedicine and allow hospitals to run for-profit subsidiaries.
On March 10, some doctors staged a one-day walkout, but this did not cause major disruptions to medical services.
Though doctors have suspended their walkout, the KMA remains opposed to telemedicine and for-profit hospitals.
A number of smaller doctors’ groups and civic organizations openly criticized the KMA’s conciliatory step, claiming that it was allowing medical privatization in return for raising insurance fees paid to doctors.