2024-03-04 12:23:48
The South Korean Ministry of Health announced this Monday that it began procedures to suspend the licenses of some 7,000 trainee doctors who have been on strike for two weeks over the plan to increase places in medical schools.
The Second Vice Minister of Health, Park Min-soo, announced that the Government began to take the necessary steps to suspend licenses and warned that the “measure is irreversible” and that it will leave a mark on the records of these professionals that will condition their future. .
The Government gave until February 29 for those who had abandoned their positions in hospitals to return to work without consequences.
Those who have not done so will now face possible penalties for ignoring the government order, which could result in the suspension of their licenses for up to a year or a fine of about 30 million won (about $22,000).
They investigate managers
At the same time, the police announced today that they have summoned five senior and former senior officials of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), the country’s largest, to the police station to be investigated for allegedly instigating the strike.
For their part, thousands of doctors participated on Sunday in Seoul in a demonstration called by the KMA in which the organization assured that it would not give in to pressure from the Government.
Around 70% of trainee doctors in South Korea have joined the strike since last February 20, which is affecting health services, since these professionals make up an important part of the staff of large hospitals. .
The Government argues that it is necessary to increase the annual places in medical schools by 2,000 to address the shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas and in areas such as pediatrics, obstetrics or cardiothoracic surgery. But the doctors denounce that the decision has been unilateral and that the increase should be 350 places so that it does not affect the quality of training and service.
The Asian country has not increased places in Medicine in 27 years and is one of the OECD countries with the lowest number of doctors per 1,000 inhabitants (2.46), only behind Mexico, Poland, Colombia and Turkey.
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