Doctors' nationwide strike inconveniences citizens
Doctors hold a nationwide strike on Yeouido in Seoul, Friday, in protest of the government's plan to increase admission quotas at medical schools. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Kim Jeong-eun, a 36-year-old office worker in Seoul, visited a clinic near her office during her lunch break on Friday as she was suffering from indigestion. But she could not receive treatment as the clinic was closed.
She later realized that the doctor of the clinic had been participating in the nationwide doctors' strike.
“I did not know about the walkout. As I had no time to go to a bigger hospital, I just went to a nearby pharmacy to get medicine,” she wrote on Facebook.
The doctors' one-day strike disrupted medical services across the country as expected, as the participants of the walkout included practitioners at small clinics as well as some trainee doctors such as interns and residents at general hospitals.
Some people such as Kim could not get timely treatment, while others who visited clinics and hospitals where staff did not participate in the strike had to wait longer than usual.
A notice announcing a clinic is closed because of the doctors' strike is posted on the entrance of an otolaryngology clinic in Seoul, Friday. / Yonhap
The strike led by the Korea Medical Association (KMA) came in protest of the government's decision to increase admission quotas at medical schools, plus other thorny issues.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, about 25 percent of medical institutions nationwide participated in the walkout.
Those in the medical sector said, however, that there were no major disruptions in essential fields such as intensive care units, surgery and emergency rooms, as medical personnel working in vital departments remained on normal duty.
The Moon Jae-in government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea confirmed a plan to expand admission quotas at medical schools by 4,000 over 10 years starting in 2022, during a policy coordination meeting held on July 23.
The government and the ruling party also decided to open a public medical school in North Jeolla Province in 2024, saying these decisions were designed to broaden the reach of healthcare services.
The KMA is demanding that the government withdraw those plans, calling them “hasty and unilateral” decisions that overlook the importance of medical education and the increase in healthcare costs.