Return to work by Thursday or else, gov't warns trainee doctors

The government said that it won't hold striking trainee doctors responsible for their mass resignations and walkouts if they return by Thursday, marking the first time the government set a specific deadline until it begins to punish striking doctors.

Paramedics handle a patient in front of an emergency room at a secondary hospital in Gwangju on Monday. [YONHAP]

The government said Monday that it won't hold striking trainee doctors responsible for their mass resignations and walkouts if they return by Thursday.

It marks the first time the government set a specific deadline until it begins to punish striking doctors.

A total of 9,006 junior doctors from 100 major hospitals have walked out, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Monday. Some 10,034 had submitted resignations as of last Friday.

“The government is making its final call given the gravity of the current situation, and those coming back by Thursday will not be held accountable,” said Interior Minister Lee Sang-min during the meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters on Monday.

“Starting from March, those who refused to return will inevitably face at least a three-month-long suspension of their medical licenses and undergo police investigation with legal charges,” said Park Min-soo, the second vice health and welfare minister, during Monday’s briefing.

“Medical license suspensions can impact doctors’ future careers because the cause of the penalty remains on their records.”

President Yoon Suk Yeol said that the country bears a “constitutional duty” to let people receive proper and timely treatment whenever they are ill, calling it the essence of welfare at a meeting with presidential secretaries on the same day.

Yoon’s words seemingly target trainee doctors who are not fulfilling their medical duties to protest against the government’s decision to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 from the 2025 school year.

Of some 13,000 trainee doctors nationwide, approximately 95 percent work in the 100 major hospitals.

Approximately 72.3 percent of the trainee doctors from the 100 hospitals have staged collective walkouts since last Tuesday.

“Trainee doctors’ collective actions heightened chaos on the medical front line, risking patients' health and lives," Lee said.

Paramedics move a patient to an emergency room at Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju on Monday. [YONHAP]

A total of 227 reports have been received by the Health Ministry’s damage reporting and support center as of Friday 6 p.m.

Some 38 new cases were filed between Thursday evening and Friday, including 31 operation delays, three instances where doctors refused to see patients, two appointment cancellations and two hospitalization delays.

The Health Ministry advised local governments and authorities to oversee hospitals and medical centers if any breach of medical laws has caused such damages.

In Daejeon, a patient in her 80s who had a heart attack died Friday after an hourlong wait in the ambulance. Seven hospitals declined to accommodate her because of understaffing and the absence of medical professionals.

She was pronounced dead after arriving at a tertiary hospital in the city.

A man in his 50s, who was suffering from loss of consciousness and physical paralysis, had to spend 53 minutes on the street as six hospitals refused to have him.

Another middle-aged man having a seizure had to waste some 37 minutes after getting rejected by hospitals.

In Busan, six patients were transferred to hospitals in other provinces and cities, such as Changwon and Ulsan, as the region’s hospitals were full.

Interior Minister, Lee Sang-min, speaks at the a meeting at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

Amid the continuing walkouts, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters granted more decision-making authority to nurses working at secondary and tertiary hospitals with trainee doctors nationwide. The measure will be effective from Tuesday.

With the trainee doctors flocking from their hospitals, nurses facing heavier workloads have asked the authorities to set clear boundaries regarding their responsibilities and tasks.

Despite being a pilot program, hospital directors or heads of nurses at each hospital will decide the scope of work nurses can perform. Yet, nurses will be prevented from medical procedures ruled out by court verdicts.

On Monday, the Korea Association of Medical Colleges — an organization of medical college deans — sent an official notice to the Education Ministry and each university asking them to postpone deciding specific numbers for the enrollment quota hike.

“In a situation where it is difficult to roll out educational programs normally with trainee doctors going on strikes, our request is intended to buy more time until social consensus is made,” Shin Chan-soo, president of the association, said.

However, the Education Ministry maintained its stance, saying it has no plan to adjust the original schedule.

“Expanding medical school enrollment quota can no longer be delayed because the country will experience the lack of 15,000 medical professionals by 2035,” said Lee Ju-ho, deputy prime minister and education minister, on Monday.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG, HAN JEE-HYE [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]