Yoon says the government sternly responds to doctors who abandon their responsibilities

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on March 6 that "we have no choice but to sternly respond to illegal collective actions taking the lives of the people as hostage" in response to trainee doctors’ collective action against the government’s policy to increase the number of medical school admissions.

At the meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters to respond to the collective action, which he chaired, he mentioned "reasonable measures for abandoning responsibility" and said he would cope with the current disruption in the country’s medical services by employing Physician Assistant (PA) nurses. As plans to reform the hospital's manpower structure and compensation structure gradually take shape, it is possible that the conflict between the government and doctors will be prolonged.

Yoon held a series of meetings at the Government Complex in Sejong, emphasizing the government's comprehensive response to the doctors' collective action and its determination to complete the medical reform. This is the first time Yoon has presided over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters related to the strike. It is interpreted as an attempt to emphasize the government's all-out response system and increase the level of pressure on the medical community.

In the opening remarks of the Cabinet meeting, President Yoon confirmed the government’s strict response policy, saying, "The collective action of doctors is to abandon their own responsibilities and shake the basis of liberalism and rule of law." He added, "Illegal collective actions that infringe on people's right to life are unacceptable. The exclusive authority over medical practice is given with corresponding responsibilities."

In a following meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, Yoon also said in the opening remarks, "Now the government will take reasonable measures against doctors who have abandoned their responsibility for the lives and safety of the people, and at the same time, strengthen the emergency medical system to minimize damage to the people at hospitals.”

He also added, "PA nurses will fill in the gaps made by trainee doctors who left hospitals through a pilot project and they will be legally protected.”

In addition to the government’s plan to make use of PA nurses, the president emphasized that "the operational structure of hospitals must be corrected and reformed" by shifting the center of the manpower structure from trainee doctors to specialists.

"How abnormal is the reality that all the people are anxious and the government has to operate a national emergency medical system just because trainee doctors left hospitals? The recent chaos at hospitals paradoxically proves the shortage of doctors,” Yoon said.

Yoon refuted the medical community's claim that the rapid increase would lead to deterioration of the quality of education, saying, "It is completely untrue and wrong.” He added, University of Ulsan College of Medicine has 0.4 students per faculty member and School of Medicine at Sungkyunkwan University has 0.5 students. Medical schools in the country have an average of 1.6 students and there are enough full-time professors."

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