Yoon vows to do everything to ensure junior doctors, students continue training
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, June 18. Yonhap
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday called on junior doctors and medical students protesting the government's medical reform to return to work and continue their studies, saying the government will provide the necessary support.
"Collective action that neglects the suffering and pain of patients, who are your reason for existence, is certainly undesirable both personally and for the state," he said during a Cabinet meeting. "The government will take all necessary measures so that you can continue your studies and training."
Yoon warned, however, that the government has "no choice but to handle in strict fairness illegal actions that betray patients," referring to a series of ongoing walkouts.
Medical professors at Seoul National University hospitals began an indefinite walkout Monday, demanding the government reconsider its increase in next year's admissions quota for medical schools and withdraw punitive measures against trainee doctors who have remained off the job since February.
The Korean Medical Association (KMA), a major lobby group for doctors, also launched a walkout Tuesday involving community doctors.
"The government will set right the medical services in the regions and in essential fields, and push forward without wavering with medical reforms that fundamentally innovate the entire medical system," Yoon said. (Yonhap)