South Korean Doctors Resolute on their Stance Against Government’s Orders

Written by: Amni Azizan

Edited by Izyan Nazihah

SEOUL, 6th March 2024: The protest of South Korean junior doctors continues even after the deadline for them to return to work has passed.

A doctor with a placard translates to “Stop populist medical policy!” during the protest. | Credit: New Straits Times (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

The South Korean government planned to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 in a year from the current 3,058 to mitigate a shortage of doctors and an ageing population. According to their Ministry of Health and Welfare, 10,000 doctors will be produced by 2035 if they conform to the plan.

However, the junior doctors, namely medical interns and residents, believe that the medical school quota plan does not address the pre-existing issues in the healthcare system. Instead, the government should recognise their working circumstances and predicament since they were underpaid and overworked to the point of exhaustion. They frequently work 80 to 100 hours each week, or up to 20 hours per day.

To retaliate, on 20th February, roughly 8,000 to 9,000 doctors-in-training, or nearly 80% of the training doctor workforce, left their jobs, prompting operations to be cancelled and emergency patients to be moved to other hospitals. For clarification, training doctors make up at least 40% of the staff at some major hospitals. The protest was held in front of the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea.

The medical community protests in front of the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea | Credit: Channel News Asia (REUTERS/ Kim Soo-Hyeon)

In response, the government declared a zero-tolerance approach for anyone who fails to end their walkouts by an imposed deadline for the doctors to return to work by 29th February, or risk prosecution, a suspension of their medical licence, and arrest. Doctors are not permitted to strike by South Korean law since they are deemed essential workers. Additionally, the police force raided the Korean Medical Association on 1st March over the protest.

Despite the passing deadline (29th February) to return to work and the potential of facing legal actions, the doctors promised not to back down, stating that the government's solution did not address the healthcare system’s underlying problem.