Don't attack non-striking colleagues, gov't warns doctors

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Sunday that the government plans to push ahead with its plan to expand medical recruitment and warned junior doctors on strike against attacking others who have returned to their jobs.

Patients move along the corridors of the National Medical Center in Jung District, central Seoul, on Sunday, the 20th day of the ongoing walkout by junior doctors from major hospitals across the country. [YONHAP]

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Sunday that the government plans to push ahead with its plan to expand medical recruitment and warned junior doctors on strike against attacking others who have returned to their jobs.

“It is completely unacceptable to target people working day and night in the field to try and force them to participate in the walkout,” Cho said at an official response meeting. He added that the government intends to “thoroughly investigate” and take “stern action” regarding alleged harassment and intimidation against trainee doctors not participating in the strike.

According to local media reports, some junior doctors have faced verbal harassment since returning to their posts, while trainees who did not participate in the ongoing strike had names and personal information leaked by those on strike.

On Friday, police launched an investigation into a document bearing the seal of the Korean Medical Association (KMA) chairman that ordered the creation of a so-called “blacklist” of intern and resident doctors who are not participating in the walkout.

Although KMA spokesman Joo Soo-ho said the document was fake, it prompted Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to say that the government would “not tolerate” harassment of trainees who were not participating in the strike.

With a membership of 140,000 medical professionals, the KMA is the country’s largest organized interest group for doctors.

Over 90 percent of 13,000 medical interns and residents, most of whom work and train at 100 general hospitals, have not returned to work for 20 days to protest the government’s plan to increase the current medical school admissions quota of 3,058 students by 2,000 spots next year.

Junior doctors, who comprise 30 to 40 percent of the total number of doctors at the country’s top hospitals, assist senior doctors during surgeries and manage inpatients.

The government has argued that more doctors are needed in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics, and emergency medicine.

While doctors claim such shortages are due to too many trainees choosing lucrative fields such as cosmetic surgery and dermatology over low-paying, high-risk jobs in essential sectors, critics argue that doctors also oppose increased recruitment for fear of higher competition and lower pay.

Amid continuing delays and cancellations of surgeries at major hospitals due to the ongoing walkout, the Health Ministry said Sunday that it expects to complete notifying the strikers of its plan to suspend their medical licenses within the coming week.

The government previously ordered doctors who walked off their jobs on Feb. 20 to return by Feb. 29 to avoid penalties. It later extended the grace period by three days.

The Health Ministry began sending notices to striking doctors on Tuesday, warning that those who do not submit their responses by March 25 could have their licenses suspended.

Under Korean law, doctors who defy a return-to-work order can be punished with license suspensions of at least three months and three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won ($22,780).

A doctor convicted of criminal wrongdoing can also have their license revoked.

Beginning on Friday, the Health Ministry authorized nurses at major hospitals to perform CPR and administer medication in emergency cases to make up for the shortfall of doctors.

Emergency wards at military hospitals have also been opened to the public during the strike.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]