Doctors agree to return to work, but many issues remain unresolved
Intern and resident doctors block Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo's path as he enters the Korea Health Promotion Institute in Seoul, Friday, to sign an agreement with Korea Medical Association President Choi Dae-zip. The KMA agreed to end a nationwide strike by doctors after the government said it would not proceed with a plan to increase admission quotas at medical schools. However, junior doctors claimed the agreement was made without consulting them. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
A doctors' association agreed to end a nationwide walkout, Friday, after the government vowed to put a plan to increase admission quotas at medical schools on hold. But many issues still remain unresolved, including internal conflicts in the medical sector, raising concerns that the agreement to end the strike will not be unanimously abided by, and that further confrontation is a possibility.
Korea Medical Association (KMA) President Choi Dae-zip and ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) policy committee chief Rep. Han Jeoung-ae signed an agreement at about 10 a.m. in Seoul to restart discussions on the government's medical workforce reform plan from “square one” after the COVID-19 crisis eases.
The plan, which triggered the doctors' strike, includes raising admission quotas at medical schools and establishing a new public medical school, which the KMA called a “hasty and unilateral” decision that overlooked the importance of medical education.
The agreement defused tensions between the medical sector and the government that began last month amid growing concerns over a second wave of COVID-19 infections.
But an internal conflict in the medical sector was on full display Friday, with interns and resident doctors, who had been the most active in staging the strike, claiming they were unaware of the agreement.
Park Ji-hyun, the president of the Korean Intern and Resident Association, wrote on Twitter, “I woke up and saw news about an agreement that I didn't know about. Does this mean that the agreement was made without me?”
KMA President Choi and Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo were scheduled to sign a separate agreement at 11 a.m. in the Korea Health Promotion Institute in Seoul, halting the push for the medical reform plan, but this was delayed until 2 p.m., with the signing place changed, because about 30 junior doctors blocked Choi and Park from entering.
Regarding resistance from junior doctors, Choi stressed that the agreement was made through due process, and their opinions were sufficiently reflected in the content.
“Further discussions will follow at a special commission to be launched between the KMA and the ruling party,” he said. “I ask interns and resident doctors to stop their strike and voice their opinions afterward.”
In the agreement, the KMA and the ruling party vowed to launch a special commission after the COVID-19 situation stabilizes, to address matters that can broaden the reach of healthcare services and improve the quality of the nation's medical field.
The special commission, however, is expected to become another seed of conflict as different opinions could be raised over who should participate, considering that there were differences among doctors even while they were staging the strike.
“There are many differences between doctors belonging to the KMA, and interns and resident doctors as well as medical students,” an official from the DPK said. “We need to decide how to put all of their diverse opinions together at one set of negotiations.”
The agreement is also facing criticism from those who have raised the need to reinforce public medical services by, for example, setting up a public medical school.
The progressive minor opposition Justice Party welcomed the doctors' decision to return to work, but expressed regret over the content of the agreement, saying the government push to enhance public medical services will lose momentum.
“Discussions on very important issues directly related to health of the public were put on hold due to doctors' collectivism,” party spokesman Kim Jong-cheol said.
Liberal civic groups also went all out to criticize the agreement, claiming the doctors' association and the government made the agreement in a “closed-door” meeting.
The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and other civic groups held a joint press conference near Cheong Wa Dae, criticizing the government for excluding civic groups' opinions and “giving up on expanding public medical services.”
“Through the COVID-19 situation, we learned a lesson that the expansion of public medical services is essential in the country's fight against the contagious disease,” the groups said in a statement.