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Difficulties remain for government-doctors dialogue
A notice informing outpatients of consultation delays due to the mass walkout of trainee doctors is displayed on a screen at a major hospital in Daegu, Monday. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Medical professors begin mass resignations despite Yoon’s gesture of goodwill
The government is attempting to hold talks with the doctors' community over the prolonged walkout by trainee doctors protesting against its plan to hike the quota of medical school students starting next year. But it seems unlikely for the two sides to reach a breakthrough anytime soon due to their clearly different positions.
The government continues sticking to its position that adding 2,000 slots to the admissions quota for the country’s 40 medical schools is not negotiable, while doctors claim they will sit down for talks with the government only if the plan is abolished.
Medical professors across the country began tendering resignations en masse as planned, Monday, in solidarity with thousands of trainee doctors who walked off the job more than a month ago in protest of the government's plan.
The prospects of the government-doctor dialogue reaching a settlement were raised on Sunday after President Yoon Suk Yeol called for a “flexible” approach to dealing with the suspension of licenses of trainee doctors on strike defying the government's demand to return to work. Yoon also ordered the establishment of an official consultation panel to facilitate “constructive” dialogue with the doctors’ community.
The president’s order came shortly after Han Dong-hoon, interim chair of the ruling People Power Party, made the suggestion, after holding a closed-door meeting with representatives of the Medical Professors Association of Korea (MPAK), which represents professors from 39 medical schools.
Following Yoon’s order, the Ministry of Health and Welfare postponed the suspension of trainee doctors’ licenses, which otherwise would have started as early as Tuesday, in an apparent gesture of goodwill before opening a dialogue.
Kim Chang-soo, head of the Medical Professors Association of Korea, speaks during a press conference at Severance Hospital in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
However, medical professors pressed on with their plans to tender mass resignations and reduce their work hours to 52 hours a week — set as the official workweek by law — by adjusting surgeries and medical treatments. They demanded that the government scrap the quota hike plan, claiming that schools are not ready to accommodate such a drastically increased number of new students, thereby undermining the quality of education and training.
“The ongoing crisis cannot be resolved, unless the government scraps the quota hike plan,” the MPAK said in a statement.
Kim Chang-soo, head of the MPAK, stressed that doctors’ request for the withdrawal of the plan does not mean that they oppose the quota hike itself, leaving the door open for accepting the policy if the range of the hike is adjusted.
“I believe anyone can accept the policy if it is drawn up through scientific research and analysis of current education and training conditions,” he said during a press conference.
Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, however, stressed once again that the government will “complete the medical reform based on an increase of the medical school enrollment quota,” expressing his unwillingness to make any concessions with regard to the hike of the medical school quota, which has remained unchanged at 3,058 since 2006.
During a government meeting on the doctors’ collective action, Cho said related ministries have launched working-level preparations to hold talks with doctors, vowing to arrange a venue for such talks as soon as possible.
President Yoon asked Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to "communicate more closely with those from all walks of life, including doctors," during their weekly meeting at the presidential office, according to presidential spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung.
Amid the protracted standoff, the Korea Alliance of Patients Organization, a coalition of patient groups, issued a statement, also Monday, raising hopes that potential talks between the government and doctors could become the starting point to find a breakthrough.
The organization also called for the prompt return of the trainee doctors on strike, saying that patients do not deserve to have their lives sacrificed while the government and doctors remain in conflict.