2024-07-18 07:08:50
Residents at the ‘Big 6’ university hospitals have filed a complaint against Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong and hospital directors for abuse of power and obstruction of the exercise of rights, claiming that they “violated the right to receive proper training and the freedom to choose an occupation.”
According to the medical community on the 18th, 118 residents who resigned from Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, Seoul Asan Medical Center, Samsung Seoul Hospital, Catholic Central Medical Center, and Korea University Medical Center filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) against Minister Cho, Seoul National University Hospital President Kim Young-tae, Severance Hospital President Lee Kang-young, Seoul Asan Medical Center President Park Seung-il, Samsung Seoul Hospital President Park Seung-woo, Catholic Central Medical Center President Lee Hwa-seong, and Korea University Medical Center President Yoon Eul-sik for abuse of power and obstruction of rights.
Their legal representative, attorney Lee Byung-chul of Chanjong Law Firm, said, “Minister Cho committed abuse of power by unilaterally deciding to increase the number of medical school admissions by 2,000 students, a matter that was within his general authority according to the Health and Medical Services Act, Medical Services Act, etc., by not reporting in advance to President Yoon Seok-yeol or even to the Cabinet, in violation of the Constitution, the Government Organization Act, and the State Council Regulations.”
He continued, “Minister Cho admitted to his illegal actions on the 4th of last month by withdrawing the illegal order to prohibit the acceptance of resignation letters and the order to return to work due to the legal resistance of the residents and criticism from the public.”
He added, “Nevertheless, on the 10th, Minister Cho sent an official letter to training hospital directors requesting them to apply for the second half of the year’s residency recruitment quota to the Training Environment Evaluation Committee directly under the Minister of Health and Welfare by July 15th regarding ‘accepting resignations from residents,’ which is a matter within his official authority, and stating, ‘If this is not followed, the number of residents next year will be reduced.'”
Afterwards, the heads of the Big 6 hospitals sent text messages to residents on the 11th asking them to ‘inform us by the 15th whether they will return or resign.’ However, the majority of residents consistently did not respond.
The lawyer pointed out that Minister Cho’s directives were an abuse of power that violated the residents’ right to receive proper training and their freedom to choose their jobs. He also claimed that Minister Cho abused his power to have the Big 6 hospital directors do things they were not required to do, even though they were not legally required to accept resignations from residents as of July.
Regarding the heads of the Big 6 hospitals, the lawsuit stated the reason for the lawsuit: “Even though there is no legal obligation for residents to resign as of July, they obstructed the residents’ right to exercise their rights by having them resign en masse as of July, infringing upon their right to receive proper training and their freedom to choose their occupation,” and “They forced residents to do work they were not required to do.”
After receiving the complaint, the residents plan to hold a press conference at 3:00 PM on the 19th at the Gwacheon Public Prosecutor’s Office in Gyeonggi Province.
Reporter Kim Jeong-hyeon Photo News 1
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2024-07-18 07:08:50