Major five hospitals to go on strike

Medical staff move around at Seoul St. Mary\'s Hospital of Catholic University in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on Feb. 13, amid a planned collective action by doctors\' associations to expand medical school admissions. Jeong Hyo-jin

Doctors at the major five hospitals in the Seoul metropolitan area have decided to stop working from the 20th in protest against the government's decision to increase the student quota for medical schools.

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) announced on the 16th that all doctors at the major five hospitals have submitted their resignations by the 19th and will stop working after 6 a.m. on the 20th. The major five hospitals are Seoul National University Hospital, Severance Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul Asan Medical Center, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital.
The KMA reportedly discussed how to respond to the government's decision. from 11 p.m. the previous day to 2 a.m. on the 16th. The KMA plans to form an emergency committee with representatives from the major five hospitals to query whether all training hospitals will participate in the submission of resignations.

A resident doctor is an intern or resident who graduates from medical school and receives a medical license and trains at a large general hospital or university hospital. About 15,000 resident doctors in 140 hospitals nationwide are enrolled in the KMA. The proportion of resident doctors at the major five hospitals is 37 percent.

There are concerns that the medical vacancies in the field, such as emergency on-call, will increase if doctors leave the medical field en masse. In 2020, 80 percent of residents left the medical field in opposition to the medical school quota expansion, causing extreme chaos in the field. The government eventually took a step back, putting the expansion on hold.

The conflict between the government and the medical community over the expansion of medical schools seems to be growing. The government is considering revoking doctors' licenses if they take collective action. It has ordered training hospitals to 'prohibit collective resignations'. Medical organizations such as the Korean Medical Association have been ordered to "prohibit collective action and its incitement.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has decided that if a doctor leaves the medical field and engages in collective action, it will immediately issue a "return to work" order and discipline him or her if he or she fails to comply. The Article 59 of the Medical Act stipulates that if a medical practitioner stops practicing without a legitimate reason, or closes his or her business collectively, causing a significant disruption to patient care, an order can be issued.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.