2024-07-08 19:14:25
The government has decided not to take administrative action against all residents who have left the field, and is preparing a plan to apply a ‘special training exception’ to allow residents who wish to return to their jobs after resigning to retake the September training.
On the 8th, Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong held a briefing of the ‘Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for Doctors’ Collective Action’ and announced, “Last Friday, the ‘Training Environment Evaluation Committee’ that discusses residency training policies and systems delivered a petition to the government to suspend administrative dispositions for residents and recognize special training exceptions for residents who return in the second half of the year.” He added, “After comprehensively considering the suggestions from the training field and the situation in the medical field, we decided to suspend administrative dispositions for all residents as of today, regardless of whether they return or not.”
Minister Cho said, “To be exact, this is a withdrawal of administrative disposition.” He added, “We withdrew the administrative order on June 4, but I think they are worried that the government might later take administrative action against residents who have not followed the government’s administrative order by the 3rd. We do not plan to take administrative action against any residents in the future.”
However, Minister Cho added, “We are not considering canceling the executive order because it is a legitimate measure taken in accordance with the law.”
Regarding the issue of fairness with the residents who remain in the field, he said, “I think there could be criticism,” and “Despite the withdrawal of the administrative order, not many residents are returning or resigning, so the medical vacuum continues. Therefore, the government made the decision to minimize the medical vacuum and to minimize it. Many people in the medical community and patient groups have also said that the early return of residents is necessary.”
He continued, “The residents have suffered greatly in poor working conditions of up to 80 hours a week, and we also took into account the fact that they are still trainees,” adding, “The government made this decision while being prepared for criticism, considering that these are young doctors who will be responsible for the essential medical care that the government is trying to establish in the future.”
The government also plans to apply special training benefits to residents who have returned to their current position and residents who re-apply for training in September of this year after resigning.
Minister Cho said, “We will prepare special training provisions tailored to each year and return period to ensure that the timing of obtaining specialist qualifications is not delayed while minimizing training gaps.” He explained, “This is a decision we reached after much deliberation, judging that maintaining the continuity of the training system to minimize gaps in treating critically ill and emergency patients and to ensure that specialists can be produced on time is in the public interest.”
He continued, “We will provide as many special privileges as possible to support them so that they can make timely progress on their career path,” and “The current regulations prohibit them from returning to the training course within one year of resigning, but we will relax that provision to allow them to return.”
Accordingly, the government plans to recruit specialists in September this year for all subjects with vacancies, rather than limiting it to some subjects as in previous years.
Minister Cho said, “I ask each training hospital to complete the resignation of residents who have not returned and confirm vacancies by July 15 so that there will be no disruption to the second half of the year’s residency recruitment schedule starting on July 22.”
Accordingly, the government is also reviewing measures such as allowing additional specialist examinations.
Jeong Yoon-soon, director of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Health and Medical Policy Bureau, explained, “We will receive additional opinions on related regulations, including specialist examinations and additional examinations, and provide more detailed information after discussion by the Training Environment Evaluation Committee.”
In addition, the government said it is discussing with the Ministry of National Defense and the Military Manpower Administration the issue of military service that will arise when the medical residents return in September.
Kim Guk-il, the director of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Health and Medical Policy Bureau, said, “I don’t think there will be a big problem with securing public health doctors and military doctors next year,” and explained, “Rather, we are discussing with the Ministry of National Defense and the Military Manpower Administration about postponing military enlistment in cases where they return in September.”
The government also drew a line against criticism that “this special application opened the way for local specialists to come to the metropolitan area,” saying, “We did not do anything specifically to allow local specialists to come to Seoul.”
Minister Cho said, “We have reduced the ratio of residents in local and metropolitan areas from 6:4 to 5.5:4.5 for the first time in six years, and we will work to lower it to 5:5 next year.”
Meanwhile, Minister Cho promised, “We will drastically improve the working conditions so that residents can receive quality training in better conditions,” including: △ gradually reducing the working hours of residents through pilot projects, △ designating and expanding teaching staff such as ‘education supervising specialists,’ and △ introducing a network training system for residents where they can gain diverse experiences in regional medical care and public medical care.
Minister Cho emphasized, “The government will make a firm investment to provide systematic and high-quality education to medical residents,” and “We will establish a ‘Comprehensive Medical Resident Training Plan’ within this year and strengthen national support for expanding educational infrastructure.”
He continued, “If residents participate in the medical reform special committee together with the medical community and provide opinions, we will be able to discuss the fall plan for the 2026 school year and beyond in a more objective and transparent manner.”
However, when asked, “If residents do not return despite these measures, will there be additional measures?” Minister Cho said, “It is difficult to predict,” and added, “I earnestly ask that you trust the government’s sincerity in making the difficult decision and that you quickly return to the medical field.”
Director Jeong Yoon-sun said, “Even though we have taken measures to ease the situation, if residents do not return, there will be great personal damage, so I am very worried.” She added, “The government says they are dividing residents, but that is absolutely not the case. If you do not take the exam in September, the time you will obtain specialist qualifications will also be delayed, so please think carefully about it.”
Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon Photo News 1
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2024-07-08 19:14:25