South Korea’s health minister warned of a threat to patient lives on Tuesday, as medical professors hinted they would join striking junior doctors in a three-week standoff that has thrown healthcare into chaos.
Thousands of trainee medics walked off the work on February 20 to protest the government’s intentions to significantly increase the number of doctors, which it claims is necessary to address shortages and service South Korea’s increasingly ageing population. Doctors believe it will lower service quality.
The government has urged medics to return or face legal action, and it has moved to suspend the medical licenses of any who refuse to comply, while offering incentives and establishing a hotline on Tuesday to assist anyone who defies the walkout.
This week, medical school lecturers at one of the country’s leading colleges announced that they would leave en masse next week unless the government reached a “reasonable breakthrough” to resolve the deadlock.
“I express serious concern over the decision,” Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Tuesday, urging professors — who are also senior doctors in many hospitals — to help their striking colleagues return to work, not join them at the barricades.
“It will pose a threat to health and lives of patients,” he added.
However, the Medical Professors Association of Korea said on Tuesday that senior doctors were working hard to help hospitals offer crucial services despite the work stoppages.
The professors are “hoping for a quick end” to the crisis, but they warn that until the administration comes to the table “unconditionally” for discussions, more doctors may join the work stoppages.
Seoul has deployed military medics and millions of dollars in state reserves to alleviate the crisis.
The government is trying to accept 2,000 extra students to medical schools per year beginning next year in order to rectify what it deems one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among affluent nations.
Doctors believe that the change will reduce the quality of care and medical education, but supporters accuse doctors of attempting to protect their wages and social standing.
Doctors are not allowed to strike under South Korean law, and the health ministry has requested that police investigate those involved in the work stoppage.
The plan has widespread public support, but a fresh poll by local media indicated that 34% urged the administration to negotiate to end the deadlock.