South Korea's president warns 'freedom comes with responsibility' after medical trainees continue their strike and begin suspending professional licenses
On March 4, the situation of the medical trainees' strike in South Korea had not improved despite entering its third week, prompting South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul to issue a warning himself.
At a meeting at the presidential palace the previous day, Yoon Seok-yeol said that “freedom must come with responsibility” and stressed the importance of doctors protecting public health.
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These comments came in response to letters from a group of trainee doctors and resident doctors who stopped working or resigned. To protest plans to increase the quota for medical students in South Korea, saying they “have the right to freely leave their jobs”
South Korea has about 13,000 trainees and residents, who play an important role in assisting with surgeries and emergency services in large public hospitals. The reason is when a strike occurs and therefore patients who need surgery or treatment in emergency rooms are greatly affected.
Park Min-soo, South Korea's vice minister of health, reported that as of February 29, 8,945 trainees had stopped or resigned from their jobs. (representing more than 70% of the total doctors practicing in the country), with only 565 doctors returning to work
Most recently, on March 4, the Ministry of Public Health announced that steps have already been initiated to suspend the professional licenses of about 7,000 practicing doctors who defy government orders to return to work. With the caveat that such punishment will “can't come back”
Park Min-soo said the government has taken steps to suspend the medical licenses of trainees who leave their jobs. This punitive action will be a permanent mark on that doctor's bad record. It affects their future career paths.
“The government intends to conduct an investigation to find violations. This will be followed by a response based on law and principles. The response will be to the officials responsible for the joint strike that has led to chaos in the health care sector. The matter will be taken seriously and quickly,” Park said.
On the same morning, South Korean Health Minister Cho Kyu-hong said that the authorities plan to start punishing practicing doctors. “The government remains committed to our principle of opposing illegal mass strikes by medical practitioners.”
The government had previously given striking doctors until January 29 to return to work, and warned them that failure to comply could result in penalties. This includes criminal punishment. Or cancel their professional license
For not following government orders, doctors can have their professional license suspended for up to one year, face up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won (about 800,000 baht).
The government seeks to increase the number of doctors to address the shortage of doctors in rural areas and in basic medical fields such as pediatrics and neurosurgery. It also takes into account a society with an increasingly aging population.
But the trainee said that increasing the quota would undermine the quality of medical education and other services and lead to higher medical costs for patients. They called for measures to help low-paid doctors first. and improving legal protection against medical malpractice claims.