Yonsei med profs to walkout indefinitely starting Thursday

Doctors, government clash at Assembly over quota hike

Severance Hospital in Seoul's Seodaemun-gu (Yonhap)

The emergency committee of medical professors at Yonsei University said Wednesday afternoon it would walk out indefinitely in protest against the government's medical reform policies starting Thursday, fading hopes of an end to months of disruption in the country.

A total of 531 out of 735 professors -- who double as senior doctors at Severance Hospitals in Seoul's Seodaemun-gu, Gangnam and Yongin in Gyeonggi Province -- voted in favor of striking. They said they would withdraw from the decision only if the government showed "visible efforts" to resolve the current medical crisis.

"Since the decision to strike is solely on one's choice and conscience, not all (professors) might start walking out (tomorrow). But we believe that (going on strike) will initiate change in reforming our country's health care," the committee said without elaborating further.

However, the strike will only affect outpatient treatment and regular surgeries, not emergency and intensive care units, according to the committee.

While the medical circle and the government are showing little signs of backing down in the monthslong confrontation, the two sides once again clashed at the National Assembly on Wednesday, where representatives of both sides gave evidence at a health and welfare committee hearing.

Appearing for the hearing as a witness, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said that the government's increase in the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 was based on studies that estimated that the country will fall short of 15,000 doctors in 2035 and that the hike was inevitable at a time when the essential medical field faces challenges, shrugging off doctors' claim that it was made arbitrarily without logical justification.

"Shortages in ER and pediatrics, essential medicine and regional health care are in crisis. To overcome such a problem, we are pushing for health care reform, which includes the quota hike," Cho said.

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo (left, first row) and Lim Hyun-taek (second row, center) attend the National Assembly's health and welfare committee's hearing on Wednesday. (Yonhap)

Since national universities in different provinces received the largest share of new slots, they could develop into regional hubs to address the problem of "medical deserts" where care is unavailable or in extremely short supply, Cho explained.

Asked how the government finalized the increase, Cho said it was determined through appropriate procedures, adding that he informed the senior presidential secretary for social policy that he would propose the number 2,000 during a medical policy review body meeting on Feb. 6. This was right before he made the announcement at 3 p.m. that day.

Speaking on striking junior doctors, Cho said the ministry would carefully monitor returning trainee doctors by the end of June and come up with measures in July. Later in the day, the presidential office also requested that trainee doctors decide on their resignations within this month.

But during his turn as a witness Lim Hyun-taek, the hard-line leader of the Korean Medical Association, Korea's largest doctors' organization, blamed health authorities for causing the medical disruption, saying that junior doctors and students won't return unless the government creates favorable working and studying conditions. He also pointed fingers at the government for "ruining the country's well-functioning health care system."

Ahn Duck-sun, the director of the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation, echoed the sentiment, noting that the quota hike did not consider the effect the plans could have on the quality of education.

"If the number of medical students increases by 100, then the number of professors and the size of training hospitals would be insufficient compared to the hike. To maintain the quality of education, those should be appropriately increased in line with the expansion."

Cho, however, said the government's special team for medical education and the Education Ministry found that the educational field could accept 2,000 more students.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)