Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
SNU medical professors to go on strike from June 17
Medical workers are seen at Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno District, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
Medical professors at Seoul National University College of Medicine (SNU Medicine) and its four affiliated hospitals have voted to commence an indefinite strike beginning June 17, despite conciliatory gestures made by the government in the ongoing dispute with the medical community.
The decision, announced on Thursday by the emergency committee of SNU Medicine and SNU Hospital, is feared to exacerbate the medical crisis caused by the prolonged walkout by trainee doctors, which has persisted for over three months, to protest against a government push to boost medical school enrollment quotas.
According to the emergency committee, 63.4 percent of 939 professors who participated in the vote supported launching a general strike. The strike would involve a complete suspension of medical services, except for essential ones in the emergency rooms and intensive care units.
The vote began on Tuesday and concluded at noon on Thursday and was open to all 1,475 professors working at four hospitals — SNU Hospital, SNU Boramae Medical Center, SNU Bundang Hospital and Seoul National University Healthcare System Gangnam Center.
"We have decided to suspend medical services starting from June 17, unless the government fully retracts the administrative measures against trainee doctors and implements measures to normalize the current medical crisis," the committee said in a statement.
The committee's announcement came two days after the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced it would withdraw return-to-work orders imposed on striking trainee doctors. The ministry also allowed hospitals to accept their resignations and retracted its decision to suspend the licenses of striking doctors who defied the return-to-work order.
Despite these concessions being perceived as significant gestures toward the striking trainee doctors, the doctors' group has expressed disbelief in the government's actions and has adamantly refused to return to work.
Since late February, thousands of trainee doctors nationwide have initiated a mass resignation movement to protest the government's plan to increase the medical school admission quota from 2025.
The government has responded sternly, threatening to suspend medical licenses unless the doctors return to work by a proposed deadline, which has been extended multiple times. The prolonged tug-of-war between the government and doctors has resulted in widespread medical disruptions nationwide.