Medical school professors to resign in solidarity with striking doctors

The chasm between medical professionals and the government shows no signs of narrowing as professors nationwide join forces to endorse the collective actions of their students and trainee doctors.

Medical professionals and doctors walk in front of a general hospital on Monday in Seoul. The government has mobilized military medical personnel for emergency medical care at regional secondary and tertiary hospitals. [NEWS1]

Professors from Seoul National University’s (SNU) medical school decided Monday to resign from their posts en masse next week.

The chasm between medical professionals and the government shows no signs of narrowing as professors nationwide join forces to endorse the collective actions of their students and trainee doctors.

“Professors will voluntarily file resignations on March 18 unless the government takes proactive and reasonable measures that can alleviate the tension between the medical sector and the authorities,” an emergency steering committee of the professorial board of SNU’s medical college said Tuesday.

The move marks the first time medical school professors have set a specific date for launching collective action.

Professors at other universities are taking similar steps to defend their trainee doctors’ decisions.

In a statement issued Tuesday, a professorial committee at the College of Medicine of the Catholic University of Korea said the faculty was devastated to see "a groundless and irresponsible governmental decision catalyzing resignations of junior trainee doctors and trained doctors and boycotts of students.”

The committee wrote that the authorities’ policies could paralyze essential medical fields and jeopardize medical infrastructure.

It also accused the government of “villainizing junior trainee doctors” to end their collective action.

The university’s faculty body said the prolonged standoff could endanger patients' safety, adding that already-booked appointments, surgical operations, and hospitalizations at its hospitals could be affected.

Faculties and students of the medical college at Pusan National University hold a press conference on Monday, urging the government to have unconditional dialogue. The professors said they would resign collectively once criminal punishments against its striking trainee doctors begin. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

On the same day, the Medical Professors Association of Korea, representing 33 of 40 medical college faculties nationwide, said it would not tolerate any harm inflicted on its trainees and students.

The association said it would hold the government accountable for invoking today’s friction.

In a statement released Tuesday, the association said professors could no longer uphold their sacred calling of training and teaching pupils when the educational foundation collapses.

When students suffer harm, professors cannot perform their duty as instructors and mentors, the association said.

It also urged the government to engage in “unconditional dialogue,” demanding that it depart from its current stance of attaching “preconditions for dialogue.”

Support for the young doctors’ movement is spreading across the medical sector.

A total of 16 senior doctors co-authored a declaration demanding the government to consider doctors “partners” in its medical reform, not a “subject for a purge.” It called on the government to include medical professionals in shaping and deciding medical policies.

Since its release on Friday, it had garnered support from 7,521 medical professionals as of 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The signatories comprised 4,811 specialized doctors and professors and 2,710 junior doctors and medical professionals.

The statement urged the government to stop issuing oppressive and threatening words to junior doctors who submitted resignations and left hospitals.

The signatories said the government’s attitude rendered junior doctors powerless "because the government did not accommodate their voices and resistance" in policymaking.

“The government should open a public sphere where bureaucrats and the medical sector can critically discuss health care policies. It should acknowledge predicted problems that will be accompanied by a sudden hike in medical school quota and its feasibility in a practical perspective,” they said.

It also criticized the government’s “repetitive and territorial decision-making,” adding that such an approach has resulted in “failed attempts to save essential medical fields.”

According to medical industry insiders, 16 medical colleges’ faculty bodies nationwide were to have an online discussion on Tuesday evening to devise further actions.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong presides over a meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters in Seoul on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

During a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting the same day, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong expressed "serious concern" over the professors' mass resignations, which he said "risks patients’ lives and health.”

Cho asked med school professors to "stand by their patients and pool wisdom to bring back" striking junior trainee doctors.

“The government will thoroughly prepare to maintain emergency medical services while making its best efforts for dialogue and persuasion,” the minister said.

“The authorities will listen attentively to professors' voices and review their opinions proactively.”

Cho added that prior notices of medical license suspension had been sent to a total of 5,556 striking junior doctors as of Monday. He said there is “no change in the governmental principle of holding striking doctors accountable for their misconduct.”

“With the mass walkout, medical chaos is growing, and the current situation proves the need for medical reform to normalize medical services.”

Lim Hyun-taek, president of Korean Pediatric Association, attends a police questioning at the Seoul Metropolitan Agency in Mapo District, western Seoul on Tuesday. The Health Ministry accused Lim on the charges of instigating trainee doctors’ collective actions. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the government to “expedite the medical reforms based on principles and rules” during a meeting with senior secretaries on the same day, said Kim Soo-kyung, presidential spokesperson at a briefing.

“Since the president nailed down the unforgiving approach based on principles, professors who leave their hospitals and violate the medical law can be subject to punishment,” an official from the presidential office said.

Yoon also underlined the proper emergency responses for emergency and critically ill patients.

On Tuesday, the government also said it would develop the competencies of mid-sized and smaller hospitals and specialized medical clinics primarily providing secondary care.

During a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said that the government would establish a reward system for hospitals "according to their capabilities, not their sizes," aiming to encourage secondary care centers to reach higher levels of specialties.

The plan is designed to solve the problem of people flocking to general hospitals, particularly the five major hospitals in Seoul. The scheme also intends to tackle the excessive dependency on trainee doctors.

Trainees usually comprise 40 percent of the doctors at general hospitals.

“To restructure hospitals into a board-certified doctor-oriented system, the law and provisions will be amended to let hospitals hire sufficient numbers of specialized doctors based on improved rewards and benefits" from the government, Cho said regarding the medical reforms.

“Such changes will lower the workload burden on junior trainee doctors and foster an environment where they can concentrate on training, eventually providing quality medical services to people.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]