South Korea trainee doctors defy govt's warning, stay away from duty on deadline day

It’s Thursday, the deadline day set by the South Korean government for the striking doctors to return to work, but the warning did not stop them from protesting. The medics will now possibly face legal action and their medical licenses may also be revoked.

Around three-quarters of South Korea’s junior doctors, who walked out of their jobs over the past week, were warned of legal action by South Korea’s health minister.

The stoppages in work by the medics have plunged the hospitals into chaos at major teaching.  It has resulted in the cancellation and delay of surgeries, chemotherapy and C-sections, with the government raising its public health alert to the highest level.

Around 10,000 trainee doctors – about 80 per cent of the trainee workforce – gave notice and walked off the job last week to protest government plans to sharply increase medical school admissions every year to cope with shortages and an aging society.

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Earlier on Thursday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said some trainee doctors who joined the walkout have subsequently returned to their hospitals, but “a full-scale return has not yet materialised”.

Nurses forced to carry procedures in operation theaters

With junior doctors on strike, other healthcare workers are being asked to pick up extra work. As per a report by BBC, nurses have warned they are being forced to perform procedures in operation theaters that would normally fall to their doctor colleagues.

The report quoted Choi, a nurse at a hospital in Seoul, saying her shifts had been extended by an hour and a half each day and she was now doing the work of two people.

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“I am frustrated that this is continuing without an end in sight,” Choi said.

‘Implore doctors to return so for patients’

Under South Korean law, doctors are restricted from striking. In an interview with local SBS radio earlier on Thursday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong also said: “If junior doctors return by the end of today, we will not hold them accountable.”

“As today is the last day of the return, I implore them to do so for the patients,” the minister said.

South Korean govt on medical students admission row

Cho further said the government was committed to its reform plan, which would increase medical school admissions by 65 per cent. The minister cited shortages of health professionals and a looming demographic crisis.

“If we reduce the scope (of the increase)… it would delay the provision of the required medical workforce,” he said.

South Korea has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios among developed countries. The country also has a rapidly aging population which is worrying the government that there would possibly be an acute shortage of medics within a decade.

Under the government’s proposals, the number of medical students admitted to university next year would rise from 3,000 to 5,000.

The striking doctors argue that training more physicians would dilute the quality of care because it would mean giving medical licenses to less competent practitioners.

However, a recent polling showed up to 75 per cent of the South Korean public support the government reforms. Also, President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has taken a hard line on the striking doctors, has seen his approval ratings tick up ahead of the legislative election scheduled in April.

With inputs from agencies