Hippocratic Oath or workers' rights?

Junior doctors who participated in a nationwide strike listen to Korean Medical Association (KMA) President Roh Hwan-kyu at a gathering outside the association headquarters in Yongsan, central Seoul, Monday. The KMA staged the strike to protest the government’s plans to introduce telemedicine and allow hospitals to run for-profit subsidiaries. / Korea Times photos by Shim Hyun-chul

By Yoon Sung-won

The first “strike” by doctors in 14 years on Monday, appeared to not have had as much impact as originally feared.

It remains to be seen what inconveniences any further walkout will trigger, but one big question is still unanswered.

Simply put: Which has a higher priority, their Hippocratic Oath or their rights as workers?

This could be a lot more complicated, if the opposing assertions made by doctors and the government are taken into account.

One sad fact in this whole affair is that patients are set to be the biggest losers.

The “small picture” team canvassed about 20 clinics in downtown Seoul and Mapo, the western part of Seoul, and only one was found to be closed. Reports have it that more than 40 percent of clinics in South Gyeongsang Province and Busan joined the strike, the highest participation rate by region.

Still, telephone lines at community health centers were busy dealing with inquiries asking which hospitals and clinics were open.

Many Koreans might have recalled the nationwide disturbance in 2000, a result of discord among the government, doctors and pharmacists regarding the separation of prescribing and dispensing drugs. Fortunately, such a situation hasn’t yet recurred.

Doctors may say they grappled with their lobby group’s push that they join the strike and the inconvenience to patients, in deciding whether to open their clinics. Some might have been concerned about gaining a bad reputation among local patients.

Another walkout is scheduled for later this month, so concerns of the impact on the public health system still linger.

A worker at a clinic in Seoul locks the door to close it for the day.

A mother picks up her child waiting for treatment at a pediatric clinic in Seoul. The clinic opened as usual amid a nationwide strike by doctors.

A child waits for treatment at Sowha Children’s Hospital in Yongsan, central Seoul

A junior doctor walks in front of the Declaration of Physicians’ Ethics at the KMA’s headquarters in Seoul.

A junior doctor looks thoughtfully during a speech by KMA President Roh Hwan-kyu.