Pregnant women had C-sections called off and cancer treatments were postponed on Wednesday morning as the number of South Korean trainee doctors to walk off the job over proposed reforms swelled, officials and local reports said.
Africa Today News, New York reports that no fewer than 8,800 junior doctors – 71 per cent of the trainee workforce – have now quit, revealed Seoul’s Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo, part of a spiralling protest against government plans to sharply increase medical school admissions.
Doctors argue the changes will negatively impact service delivery and educational quality, while Seoul argues the reforms are necessary due to the nation’s low doctor-to-population ratio and rapidly ageing population.
The initiative has strong public support among South Koreans, many of whom are tired of having to wait a long time for numerous medical procedures. Critics claim that doctors are primarily worried that the change could undermine their salaries and social standing.
Park said Wednesday that 7,813 trainee doctors had not shown up for work – an almost five-fold increase from the first day of the action Monday – despite the government ordering many of them to return to their hospitals.
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“The basic calling of medical professionals is to protect the health and lives of the people, and any group action that threatens this cannot be justified,” Park said.
The doctors’ walkout was a violation of South Korean law, as medical workers cannot refuse so-called return to work orders “without justifiable grounds,” he said.
South Korea’s general hospitals rely heavily on trainees for emergency operations and surgeries, and local reports said cancer patients and expectant mothers needing C-sections had seen procedures cancelled or delayed, with scores of cases causing “damage”, Park said.
“My surgery was canceled on the day of admission due to the doctors’ strike, and I’m still dumbfounded,” wrote @August_holiday on social media platform X.
Another user on South Korea’s Naver web portal said her mother’s long-awaited cerebral aneurysm surgery had been abruptly delayed.
“I’m furious that (the doctors) can act so irresponsibly,” user @488653 wrote.
Junior doctors claim the new medical education reforms are the final straw for many workers in a profession already struggling with tough working conditions, such as in emergency rooms.
“Despite working more than 80 hours a week and receiving compensation at minimum wage level, trainee doctors have been neglected by the government until now,” the Korea Interns and Residents Association said in a statement.
The over-reliance on trainee doctors in the current healthcare system was not reasonable or fair, they added.
Nurses, who had been left in charge during the strike, urged doctors to return to work, even as they sympathised with their fight against the reform.