Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Doctors' group threatens to strike over planned law change on medical license
Korean Medical Association chief Choi Dae-zip speaks during a virtual meeting with senior members of the group at KMA headquarters in Seoul, Saturday. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
A doctors' association has threatened to launch a strike and boycott the government's COVID-19 vaccination plan to protest the ruling party's attempt to revise the Medical Act, revoking the medical licenses of doctors who are sentenced to prison or receive heavy punishment for felony crimes.
The threat marks the latest clash between the government and the Korean Medical Association (KMA). During the previous clash last August and September, trainee doctors held a strike to protest the government's plan to increase admissions quotas at medical schools. The government was forced to put the plan on hold as it was essential for doctors to return to work as coronavirus infections continued to grow.
The KMA, which represents 130,000 doctors, issued a statement Saturday, expressing anger and saying it would never accept the revision to the Medical Act.
According to the bill, a doctor sentenced to imprisonment or heavy punishment after being found guilty of felony crimes such as murder, robbery or sexual assault, will be stripped of their medical license for five years after being released from prison. In the case of a suspended prison term, the doctor's license will be revoked for an additional two years after the suspended term ends. After those periods, they can re-obtain the license through due procedure.
“Indiscriminate disciplinary punishment is absolutely unacceptable as it will produce victims of good faith in the medical field and eventually the damage will be returned to the public,” the group said in a statement.
The KMA said medical licenses should be managed through the group's self-disciplinary actions and not through a revision of the law.
It also said KMA members will stage a strike if the revised bill is passed by the National Assembly Legislative Judicial Committee. The committee has yet to set a date for a meeting to discuss the issue. If passed by the legislative committee, the bill is subject to discussion at a plenary session.
Earlier on Friday, the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee passed the revision bill.
In addition, a person who commits a sexual offense against a minors will not allowed to obtain a medical license, and if a medical practitioner commits such a crime, the person's license will be permanently revoked.
However, doctors will not be stripped of their licenses if they are punished for professional negligence resulting in injury or death during a medical procedure.
The welfare committee proposed the bill, because medical personnel are required to have a high level of professional ethics and social responsibility due to the nature of their status in dealing with the lives and health of the people.
“However, the current law revokes medical licenses only when doctors violate medical-related laws. So even if a doctor commits violent crimes or sexual assaults, their license is not revoked and this raises anxiety among patients and undermines the public trust in medical workers,” the committee said.
It added that those in other professions including lawyers, certified public accountants and judicial scriveners are deprived of their licenses when receiving prison terms or heavier sentences for crimes unrelated to their jobs.
But KMA head Choi Dae-zip said doctors would end up losing their licenses for issues unrelated to their jobs, for example, if they injure or kill a person in a traffic accident. “The Medical Act needs to deal with crimes related to doctors' job performance, but it is unacceptable that licenses are stripped due to any type of crime,” Choi said.
In particular, the KMA warned that coronavirus vaccinations scheduled to start on Friday could face disruptions.
“We have closely cooperated with the central and local governments regarding the scheduled vaccinations. Doctors across the country have a lot of work to do with vaccinations and COVID-19 treatment, but they have been working silently because it is something they have to do,” he said. “If we launch a strike, there will be a vacuum in vaccinations and treatments for COVID-19 patients,” he added.
But the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) criticized the KMA's move, calling the threat to boycott vaccinations as being “the worst kind of selfishness.”
Rep. Kim Sung-joo, the head of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee, wrote on Facebook: “Doctors have been able to keep their licenses even when they are imprisoned for crimes unrelated to their job, so they could keep treating patients without any restrictions even if they commit murder, sex crimes or other felonies. Now we are trying to remove that privilege while refraining from enforcing excessive restrictions on them, so why are they saying the revision is harsher on them?”
Rep. Kim Nam-kuk shared an image with the phrase, “If doctors make threats using vaccinations, they are thugs, not doctors.”