South Korea: Surgeries delayed, patients turned away as trainee doctors stage walkout over 'reforms'

In South Korea, surgeries are getting delayed and patients are being turned away as more than 1,600 trainee doctors staged a walkout from the country’s major hospitals on Tuesday, protesting the government’s plans to enroll more students in medical schools and bring in more trained physicians into the system.

Already on Monday, about 6,400 of the 13,000 doctors and interns at large hospitals walked out after tendering their resignation, South Korea’s health ministry said.

The doctors’ protest in South Korea has been organised by the Korean Medical Association and Korea Interns and Residents Association, who had urged members to stop work entirely on Tuesday (20 February).

More from World

This Week in Explainers: How recovering from Gen-Z protests is a Himalayan task for Nepal Zohran Mamdani says he would arrest Netanyahu if he is elected as NYC mayor, calls Israeli PM 'war criminal'

Why doctors in South Korea going on strike?

South Korea boasts of its affordable health care system but has the fewest physicians per capita in the developed world. The country’s rapidly aging population has increased the need for more healthcare practitioners, especially in rural parts and in areas like emergency medicine.

Considering this situation, the government has suggested increasing medical school admissions by 2,000 from the 2025 academic year, against a current annual figure of about 3,000, and eventually add 10,000 more by 2035.

However, this decision of the South Korean government has angered the doctors, who are in training and those crucial for keeping hospitals running. They have denied the administration’s claim of shortage of medical service providers and said it is not industrywide but is confined to particular specialties, like emergency care.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

‘The cries of this widow will echo’: In first public remarks, Erika Kirk warns Charlie’s killers they’ve ‘unleashed a fire’

Trump urges Nato to back sanctions on Russia, calls for 50–100% tariffs on China

The protesting doctors say by increasing the number of physicians, the government is merely creating risks of more competition that could lead to the overtreatment of patients.

They have even criticised the government for failing to consult and for “demonising” existing doctors.

Government ignoring issues

The protesting doctors claim that the government has been ignoring the issues, including harsh working conditions, and low wages for interns and residents, that have made working in unappealing.

“The medical system has been collapsing for a while,” a report by The New York Times quoted Park Dan, the head of the Korean Intern Residents Association, who resigned from his job at the emergency wing of Severance Hospital in Seoul on Monday, as saying.

“I couldn’t see a future for myself working in emergency for the next five or 10 years," Dan said.

The doctor further said the current setup of insurance and government payment systems only enables physicians in a few departments, like cosmetic surgery, to make a decent living.

Protesting doctors ’taking people’s lives & health hostage’

The South Korean government has ordered doctors to go back to work with President Yoon Suk-yeol condemning a campaign he said was “taking people’s lives and health hostage”.

Yoon also said he was aware of cases where cancer surgeries had already been postponed due to the walk-outs. As per the report in South Korean media, many patients have been discharged or transferred to other hospitals due to the ongoing doctors’ protest.

Doctors have been warned by officials to stay in their posts or else face legal repercussions but the strike and walkout continue.

The country’s health ministry, on Monday, said it would suspend the licenses of two members of the Korean Medical Association (the association with South Korea’s biggest group of doctors). Also, the association is considered to be among the most vocal critics of the government’s plan.

As per laws in South Korea, the government can force some doctors back to work if they fear disruption of care. Meanwhile, officials said they will rely on telemedicine operators and military doctors until the matter is resolved.

South Korea’s population of 52 million had 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people in 2022, far below the average of 3.7 for countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Notably, it is not the first time that the South Korean government has pushed for more doctors. Back in 2020, President Moon Jae-in’s administration proposed increasing medical school admissions by 4,000 over 10 years. The plan was, however, put on hold after a backlash from the medical community due to concerns similar to the current ones, and a month-long strike by physicians.

With inputs from agencies