South Korean doctors hold massive anti-government rally over medical school recruitment plan

Thousands of senior physicians marched in Seoul, South Korea, on Sunday to show their support for younger doctors who have been on strike for over two weeks over the government’s intention to dramatically boost medical school admissions.

The event occurred as the government said that it will begin taking steps Monday to suspend the physicians’ licences of over 9,000 medical interns and residents for refusing to cease their walkouts, which have affected hospital operations.

“The government’s absurd medical policy has triggered immense resistance by trainee doctors and medical students, and we doctors have become one,” Park Sung-min, a senior member of the Korea Medical Association, said in a speech at the rally. “I’m asking the government: Please, stop the threats and suppression now.”

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Protesters waved signs, sung, and chanted slogans against the government’s proposal. There were no reports of any violent incidents.

The Health Ministry reports that as of Thursday night, 8,945 of the 13,000 medical interns and residents in the nation have been verified to have left their workplaces. The government had threatened to prosecute them and suspend their licences for at least three months if they didn’t come back by February 29.

Only a small portion of the 140,000 doctors in South Korea are striking. However, in some large hospitals, they make up 30–40% of the total number of physicians, and although they are in training, they help senior doctors during operations and other procedures. The hospitals have had to cancel a great deal of operations and medical procedures as a result of their walkouts.

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Senior doctors have staged a series of rallies backing the young doctors but haven’t joined the walkouts. If they also launch strikes, observers say that would be a major blow to South Korea’s medical service. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Sunday urged senior doctors to persuade the striking junior doctors to return to work.

Police said they were investigating five ranking Korea Medical Association officials accused of inciting and abetting the junior doctors’ walkouts. Seoul police chief Cho Ji-ho told reporters Sunday that police had raided KMA offices as part of the investigation.

The government wants to increase South Korea’s medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 starting next year, from the current 3,058, to better deal with the country’s rapidly aging population. Officials say South Korea’s doctor-to-population ratio is one of the lowest among developed countries.

But many doctors have vehemently protested the plan, saying medical schools can’t handle such a sharp increase in the number of students. They say the recruitment plan also does not address a chronic shortage of doctors in essential but low-paying specialties like pediatrics and emergency departments. Doctors say adding too many new doctors would also increase public medical expenses since greater competition would lead to excess treatments.

Without concrete plans on how to educate the newly added students, “the quality of medical education will plunge endlessly, resulting in a unsafe, low-quality medical service and eventually a collapse of the medical service of the Republic of Korea,” Lee Jeong-geun, acting leader of the Korea Medical Association, said at the rally.

The protests by doctors haven’t won public support, with a survey showing a majority of South Koreans support the government plan. Some critics say doctors — one of the best-paid professions in South Korea — simply worry about receiving a lower income due to the rising number of doctors.