Photo: Some professors at Seoul National University Hospital stopped seeing patients on the 17th to protest the medical school’s expansion policy. \Associated Press

The strike by the Korean medical community against the expansion of medical schools has escalated again. More than 500 professors from Seoul National University Hospital and other medical institutions have stopped seeing patients indefinitely since the 17th. The Korean Medical Association has also announced that it will stop seeing patients on the 18th. The South Korean government has announced the implementation of a “shift duty system for critical emergency diseases” to reduce medical gaps. The Korean doctors’ strike has lasted for nearly four months, making it difficult for patients to get medical treatment, causing complaints from the public, and divisions within the medical community. Korean obstetrics and gynecology hospitals, children’s hospitals, and epilepsy doctor groups refused to participate in the collective suspension of treatment on the 18th, pointing out that doctors leaving their posts could cause patients to lose their lives.

In late February this year, the Korean medical community launched a wave of strikes and suspensions. The main force of the previous strike was interns and residents with less experience. On June 17, 529 professors from Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul Falcon Hospital, and Gangnam Center announced an indefinite suspension of their services, accounting for 54.7% of all professors in the above medical institutions. Korean media reported that the professors participating in the suspension have postponed their outpatient and surgical arrangements from the 17th to the 22nd, but have retained some emergency appointments. The actual reduction in the number of consultations is expected to be around 40%. The “Korean Medical Association” also announced that it will suspend its services for one day on the 18th.

In order to cope with the medical gap caused by the suspension of medical services, the South Korean government announced that it would implement a “severe emergency disease rotation duty system” from the 17th, requiring medical institutions in the metropolitan area, Chungcheong Province, Jeolla Province, and Gyeongsang Province to formulate a shift plan to ensure that at least one institution in each region is on duty every day to be responsible for emergency treatment at night and on holidays; actively mobilize public health medical institutions to provide online diagnosis and treatment services for patients with mild and chronic diseases. The South Korean government warned that if the professor’s long-term refusal to see patients causes the hospital to suffer losses, the authorities will consider demanding compensation; if the hospital allows doctors to stop seeing patients en masse, it will consider excluding the relevant hospitals from the advance payment of health insurance.

Destroying decades of trust between doctors and patients

In early February this year, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol announced a plan to expand the enrollment of medical students, planning to increase the annual enrollment of medical students by 2,000 from 3,058 to 5,058 starting in 2025. This move triggered strong protests from the medical community, with tens of thousands of interns and residents resigning and tens of thousands of medical students applying for leave of absence. After the South Korean parliamentary elections, the Yoon Seok-yeol government approved on May 24 the plan proposed by various medical schools to expand enrollment by 1,509 people by 2025. But the medical community is still not satisfied.

The Seoul National University College of Medicine and Seoul National University Hospital Professor Emergency Countermeasures Committee claimed on the 17th that the Yoon Seok-yeol government turned a deaf ear to the demands of the medical community and that they could only use the “last bargaining chip” of completely suspending medical services. The committee put forward three demands, including completely abolishing administrative penalties against striking interns, establishing a permanent medical consultation mechanism that can reflect frontline opinions, and readjusting the number of medical school enrollment expansions.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo said on the 16th that the collective suspension of doctors’ clinics would not only bring pain to the whole society, but also destroy the trust that doctors and patients have accumulated over decades. He pointed out that the government provides benefits that other professions do not have for doctors who treat and save lives in accordance with the law, but in order to protect the right to life of the people, it also restricts some of their professional freedoms and cannot give medical personnel unlimited freedom. He once again pleaded with the medical community to withdraw the suspension plan and enter the framework of medical reform.

Maternity and Children’s Hospital refuses to stop treatment

Several groups of patients with serious diseases in South Korea recently protested in front of Seoul National University Hospital, demanding the withdrawal of the decision to suspend treatment, and said they might sue doctors who left their posts without permission. Kim Tae-hyun, president of the Korean Muscular Dystrophy Association, who has been fighting muscular dystrophy for 28 consecutive years, made a statement in a wheelchair through someone else’s reading. He criticized some doctors for taking serious and emergency patients as hostages, causing many patients to miss the golden treatment time and be pushed to death, saying that “doctors behave like gangsters.”

The Korean Association of Maternity Hospitals, the Association of Children’s Hospitals and the epilepsy doctor group representing 18 medical schools refused to participate in the collective suspension of treatment. Choi Yong-jae, president of the Children’s Hospital Association, said: “With extremely low birth rates, every child is precious. Even if the clinic is suspended for only one day, many children will become critically ill due to delayed treatment.” Hong Seung-bong, chairman of the epilepsy doctor group, said that collective resignation or suspension of treatment by doctors is basically a death sentence for critically ill patients. He questioned: “Is it more important to oppose the expansion of medical school enrollment by 1,509 people each year than to save lives?”

(Yonhap News Agency/JoongAng Ilbo)