Lim Hyeon-taek, the president of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), began a hunger strike on the 26th, demanding, “Make a decision to end the medical crisis.” The government cited issues such as the supply and demand of human resources and stated, “This is not an issue that can be compromised without basis through negotiations with the medical community.”
On this day, Chairman Lim set up a tent in front of the Korean Medical Association building in Yongsan-gu, Seoul and began a hunger strike, saying, “I make a final appeal to the President and the National Assembly.”
On this day, the Korean Medical Association held a press conference on the first floor of the Korean Medical Association building, urging the president and the National Assembly to make a decision to save the lives of the people, and explained, “This is a hunger strike to earnestly appeal to the government and the National Assembly to quickly come up with measures, as this situation is very serious.” They added, “(The hunger strike) will continue until the government changes its position.”
He continued to demand the dismissal of the person responsible for this situation, the suspension of the current medical malpractice laws such as the Nursing Act, and the suspension of discussions by the Special Committee on Medical Reform, emphasizing that “this can only be resolved if the government shows the will to have effective dialogue with the medical community.” He continued, “If the government shows the will to resolve this situation, we will actively work together to resolve the situation so that the people’s worries do not occur again.”
●Government: “We need to put our heads together to solve the medical reform problem… The manpower problem is the government’s responsibility”
A senior government official met with reporters that day and said, “The keywords for medical reform are to save regional medical care and essential medical care,” and “If we look back again at why we need to reform medical care, it is ultimately to protect the lives and health of the people.” He continued, “Rather than fixating on the issue of increasing the number of patients, we need to work together to quickly move forward with the task of medical reform so that we can solve problems on the ground and achieve the effect of increasing the number of medical schools.”
Regarding the medical community’s opinion that the 2,000 additional medical school seats is “excessive” and “should be adjusted,” the official said, “Since the demand for medical care is skyrocketing and there is a shortage of doctors, we need to increase (the number of personnel) first to establish the basic foundation for medical reform.” “The issue of supply and demand for personnel is fundamentally the responsibility of the government, and even looking at the laws, it is not an issue for the National Assembly to decide by law.” He continued, “If we (train medical personnel) now, talented people will emerge in 10 years.” “The government believes that this issue will be solved if we first decide on the urgent and absolutely necessary increase and complete the system over the next 10 years so that the increased personnel can go to essential local medical care.”
Furthermore, the official explained the recent cases of some emergency rooms operating shorter hours, saying, “The emergency room rush is fundamentally due to the shortage of doctors that has accumulated over the past 30 years,” and that “it is a manageable situation.” Regarding the Health and Medical Workers’ Union’s strike scheduled to start on the 29th, he explained, “Even if (the union) goes on strike, the law stipulates that functions for patients, such as emergency medical care, intensive care, and anesthesia for dialysis, must be maintained,” and “This is not a situation where hospitals and medical services will be paralyzed.” He continued, “However, since such a situation cannot occur, the government is also establishing countermeasures, and a meeting of relevant ministers is scheduled to be held tomorrow (the 27th) presided over by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.”
Lee Ye-ji, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
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2024-08-26 18:01:40