Hospitals in scaled down mode as trainee doctors slow to return to work

Doctors head to enter the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's Hospital College of Medicine in Seoul's Seocho District, Sept. 4, after the government and the country's association of doctors reached an agreement over national policies on educating medical students after a widespread strike by doctors, interns and residents. Yonhap

Major hospitals in South Korea are running scaled down operations, as trainee doctors have yet to return to work despite an agreement reached to end their weeks-long strike, medical sources said Saturday.

Large university hospitals have reduced treatments and surgeries and have restricted the number of patients they admit, as thousands of interns and residents have taken part in the walkout beginning Aug. 21, according to insiders.

The latest development comes after the Korean Medical Association reached an agreement with the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and the health ministry, Friday, to end the strike in exchange for the government putting on hold its plans to increase the quota for medical students, set up new public medical schools and give medical insurance coverage for traditional Oriental medicine treatment.

The ruling party and the ministry also pledged to approach all matters related to the medical reform plan from scratch and listen to input provided by doctors, who have strongly opposed the changes. Doctors, lawmakers and government policymakers said they will set up two special committees to address matters that can improve the quality of the country's medical services.

Despite this, some doctors belonging to the Korean Intern and Resident Association (KIRA), who have been at the forefront of the strike, have criticized the way the KMA handled the negotiations. KIRA members have complained that they were not properly consulted on the talks, with the agreement not reflecting earlier demands that the government first scrap its medical reform plan.

The KIRA said that its members will independently decide on when they will return to work, which is making it hard to determine when hospitals will be fully staffed again.

In a statement, the association warned that collective action cannot be called off if its members are hurt in any way for taking part in the walkout.

"Unless the interns and residents return, hospitals have to operate at a reduced capacity as we are doing at the moment," an administrator at a university hospital in Seoul said, adding he was closely monitoring developments.

Related to objections raised by the KIRA on the ending of the strike, observers said that if the health ministry withdraws its formal complaints leveled at doctors who did not follow return-to-work orders and promises to engage in dialogue on matters related to the medical reform plan, it is likely that its members will gradually return to work.

"There is a chance that the interns and residents may seek another approach to make their views known without engaging in a strike," a source said. (Yonhap)