SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea’s health minister said on Thursday that most of the striking doctors had not returned to work despite a deadline, threatening legal action if they did not stop suspending doctors who wreak havoc on hospitals.
Nearly 10,000 junior doctors, who make up about 80 percent of the trainee workforce, went on strike last week in protest at a government plan to sharply increase admissions to medical schools to combat shortages and an aging population.
Doctors say the plan will undermine the quality of services and industry groups have accused the government of “intimidation tactics”.
South Korean law restricts strikes by doctors, and the government threatened to arrest doctors and suspend their medical licenses if they did not return to work by Thursday (today).
“If the young doctors come back today, we will not hold them responsible,” Health Minister Cho Ki-hun said in an interview with local radio station SBS early Thursday morning.
Cho said some of the trainee doctors who participated in the strike have since returned to the hospital, but “a full return has not yet been achieved.”
“As today is the last day of the return, I implore them to do so for the patients.”
The mass work stoppage has resulted in the cancellation and postponement of surgeries, chemotherapy and caesarean sections, with the government raising its public health alert to its highest level.
Cho said the government was committed to its reform plan to increase medical school enrollments by 65 percent, citing a shortage of medical professionals and a looming demographic crisis.
“If we reduce the scope (of the increase)… it would delay the provision of required medical workforce,” he said.
Polls show 75 percent of South Koreans support the reforms, and President Yoon Seok-yol, who has taken a hard line against striking doctors, has seen his popularity slide ahead of parliamentary elections in April.
Seoul has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios in the developed world, and the government is pushing hard to increase enrollment in medical schools by 2,000 a year starting next year.
The Ministry of Health on Tuesday asked the police to launch an investigation into those involved in the strike, including five officials from the Korea Medical Association (KMA).
Supporters say doctors are primarily concerned that the reform will hurt their rights and social standing.
