Over 6,000 trainee doctors resign as Korea's medical crisis deepens

Over 6,000 trainee doctors submitted their resignation letters as of Monday night to protest the hike in enrollment quotas at medical schools.

Doctors walk near a hospital in Daegu on Tuesday morning. [YONHAP]

Over 6,000 trainee doctors submitted their resignation letters as of Monday night to protest the hike in enrollment quotas at medical schools.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday, 6,415 trainee doctors submitted their resignation letters across 100 hospitals nationwide as of 11 p.m. Monday. This accounts for around 55 percent of the total number of trainee doctors in these hospitals.

Of them, 1,630 interns and residents stopped providing medical services. Hospitals have not approved any of the resignation letters yet.

During the site inspection, the government confirmed that a total of 1,091 trainee doctors submitted their resignation letters at 10 hospitals as of 10 p.m. Monday. Of them, 737 trainee doctors did not show up for work. The ministry ordered 728 of them to resume work.

According to the Medical Service Act, the government "may order medical personnel or institutions to resume medical service if there is a reasonable ground to believe that the suspension of medical service […] causes great difficulties in giving medical treatment to patients."

If medical professionals refuse to return, their licenses could be suspended for up to a year, and they could even face up to three years in prison. Medical professionals sentenced to jail may have their licenses permanently revoked.

Tension between the government and medical professionals has been growing since the government earlier in the month announced a medical school enrollment quota hike of 2,000 next year.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]