South Korea to suspend doctor licences as strike crisis escalates
Posted: Mon Mar 04, 2024 7:15 pm
South Korea to suspend doctor licences as strike crisis escalates
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/4 ... -escalates
South Korea has said it will suspend the licences of trainee doctors who have ignored an ultimatum to end a strike over government plans to increase medical school admissions.
About 9,000 junior doctors walked out on February 20, leading to the cancellation of some operations and treatments as well as hampering the operation of hospitals’ emergency units.
On Monday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said the authorities would visit hospitals to find out whether the doctors had returned to work and “take action according to the law and principle without exception”.
Speaking in a televised briefing, he said those who had not returned “may experience serious problems in their personal career path”.
The doctors taking strike action are a fraction of South Korea’s 140,000 doctors. But they account for as many as 40 percent of the total doctors at some major hospitals.
Thousands took to the streets of Seoul on Sunday at a mass rally organised by the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which represents private practitioners, defying a February 29 government deadline for them to return to work or face legal action, including possible arrest.
The doctors say the government should first address pay and working conditions before trying to increase the number of physicians.
“The government is pushing the reforms unilaterally and that, the doctors cannot accept under any circumstances”, Kim Taek-woo of the Korea Medical Association told the crowd of protesters, who wore black masks.
Read more here:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/4 ... -escalates
South Korea has said it will suspend the licences of trainee doctors who have ignored an ultimatum to end a strike over government plans to increase medical school admissions.
About 9,000 junior doctors walked out on February 20, leading to the cancellation of some operations and treatments as well as hampering the operation of hospitals’ emergency units.
On Monday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said the authorities would visit hospitals to find out whether the doctors had returned to work and “take action according to the law and principle without exception”.
Speaking in a televised briefing, he said those who had not returned “may experience serious problems in their personal career path”.
The doctors taking strike action are a fraction of South Korea’s 140,000 doctors. But they account for as many as 40 percent of the total doctors at some major hospitals.
Thousands took to the streets of Seoul on Sunday at a mass rally organised by the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which represents private practitioners, defying a February 29 government deadline for them to return to work or face legal action, including possible arrest.
The doctors say the government should first address pay and working conditions before trying to increase the number of physicians.
“The government is pushing the reforms unilaterally and that, the doctors cannot accept under any circumstances”, Kim Taek-woo of the Korea Medical Association told the crowd of protesters, who wore black masks.