South Korean trainee doctors Ryu Ok Hada and Park Dan have resigned in a confrontation with the government, which threatens to arrest them.
They claim that junior doctors, a crucial part of South Korea’s medical system, are overworked, underpaid, and unheard. Hospitals have turned away patients and cancelled surgeries after about two-thirds of the country’s young doctors walked off the job this month in protest.
The young doctors say their pay and working conditions should be the priority, rather than the government’s plan to boost the number of physicians.The government’s plan to boost medical school admissions is popular, with about 76% of respondents in favor, regardless of political affiliation.
However, senior doctors and private practitioners have not walked out but have held rallies urging the government to scrap its plan.Intern and resident doctors in South Korea work 36-hour shifts, compared to shifts of less than 24 hours in the U.S. According to the Korean Intern Resident Association.
Half the young U.S. physicians work 60 hours a week or less, while Korean doctors often work more than 100 hours. Hospitals have not processed the resignations of the protesting doctors, who say they are not on strike.
The government has ordered them back to work, threatening to arrest them or revoke their licenses, saying their collective action cannot be justified and people’s lives must come first.
The doctors on walkout represent just a fraction of South Korea’s 100,000 doctors, but they can make up more than 40% of staff at large teaching hospitals, performing crucial tasks in emergency rooms, intensive care units, and operating rooms. Emergency rooms at South Korea’s five biggest hospitals were on “red alert” on Sunday, meaning they were running out of beds.Park, 33, who heads the Korean Intern Resident Association, wants the authorities to bring doctors into essential disciplines such as paediatrics and emergency departments at large hospitals.
Doctors want better legal protection from malpractice suits and changes to a system where many hospitals rely on a low-paid workforce and off-insurance services to stay afloat in a country often praised for providing universal quality medical coverage affordably.
(Reuters)
