SEOUL: South Korea will send its military and community doctors to hospitals in the next few days as part of emergency measures to shore up the health system after a mass exodus of medical practitioners, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Wednesday.
Han also pleaded with young doctors to return to work by the government’s Thursday deadline, saying authorities would listen to their concerns.
“The government fully understands that trainee doctors have serious concerns about the working environment and future careers, and we are looking at measures to improve this from a number of perspectives,” he told a cabinet meeting.
Two-thirds of residents and practicing doctors walked off the job in protest at a government plan to increase the number of students admitted to medical school in an effort to address what authorities say is a shortage of doctors.
The protesting young doctors say the government should first address pay and working conditions before trying to increase the number of doctors.
The government has warned that it may suspend the licenses of doctors who do not comply with the order to return to work.
Starting next month, doctors who serve in the military and local clinics in lieu of mandatory military service will be assigned to hospitals affected by the walkout, Han said.
About 9,000 doctor-trainees joined the protest, disrupting services at major hospitals, which were forced to turn away some patients and cancel operations and procedures.
Senior doctors and private practitioners have also opposed the government’s plan to increase the number of new medical faculty intakes, saying the medical community was not sufficiently consulted.
President Yoon Suk Yeol said the plan, which has broad support among Koreans, was not up for debate and that there was no justification for doctors to leave their jobs.
