[D-1 Doctors' General Strike] Government and Doctors' Chicken Game Playing with Lives as Hostages

"All Direct Translation Doctors' Participation Will Shock the Medical Field"

President Choi Dae-jip of the Korean Medical Association is listening to the opening remarks while meeting with Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 24th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] On the 26th, as the second general strike of the Korean Medical Association is announced, concerns over medical service gaps are growing as not only residents (interns and residents), the core personnel of large hospitals, but also fellows (clinical instructors, fellows) have joined the indefinite strike.

Negotiations between the medical community and the government continued until the early morning of the 25th, but since both sides failed to reach an agreement, the doctors' second general strike from the 26th to the 28th is expected to proceed. As the conflict between the government and the medical community deepens amid the resurgence of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), it is pointed out that the damage is being directly passed on to patients.

According to the Seoul National University Hospital Fellows Association, about 300 fellows belonging to three hospitals?Seoul National University Hospital, Bundang Seoul National University Hospital, and Boramae Hospital?joined the indefinite strike from 7 a.m. the previous day. Following the residents, even the fellows at Seoul National University Hospital, a national university hospital, have entered an indefinite strike demanding the withdrawal of government policies such as increasing medical school quotas. It is also analyzed that the pressure exerted by Seoul National University Hospital, such as sending crackdown messages prohibiting residents from participating in the strike a day before the Korean Medical Association's general strike on the 14th, triggered backlash not only from residents but also from fellows.

Additionally, fellows from the so-called 'Big 5' tertiary general hospitals, including Seoul Asan Medical Center, Seoul Severance Hospital, Samsung Seoul Hospital, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, are also joining the strike one after another, making the medical service gap more visible. A representative of the Fellows Association stated, "We are joining the residents' indefinite strike to improve the government's four major medical policies (increasing medical school quotas, establishing a public medical school, coverage of herbal medicine, and telemedicine) which have problems."

In the crisis situation of COVID-19 resurgence, as all doctors nationwide?from university hospital residents to fellows and private practitioners?have decided to participate in the strike, disruption of the medical system is inevitable. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of the 24th, inquiries to 151 out of 200 resident training institutions showed that out of 8,679 current residents, 6,021 were not working, accounting for 69.4% suspension of medical duties.

Immediately, hospitals are experiencing disruptions in patients' surgery schedules as core personnel such as residents and fellows withdraw. Samsung Seoul Hospital has inevitably postponed 115 scheduled surgeries from the 24th to the 26th. A Samsung Seoul Hospital official said, "As core hospital personnel withdraw, we are asking patients for understanding and postponing non-urgent surgeries," adding, "We are adjusting schedules to perform surgeries for emergency or severe patients by any means."

Experts have voiced that the government and the medical community should stop the chicken game in this COVID-19 emergency situation and quickly find a point of agreement. Shin Hyun-young, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and a former doctor, said, "With nationwide COVID-19 spread, hospital beds are saturated, but due to doctors' strikes, hospitals cannot actively respond to infectious diseases," and added, "The medical community should consider whether the strike is justified in a situation where patients' lives are threatened due to limited medical resources, and communicate with the government to prevent harm to the public." Professor Jung Sung-pil of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Gangnam Severance Hospital said, "The medical community and the government should return to the starting point and resolve the strike through dialogue," emphasizing, "Causing medical service gaps during the COVID-19 resurgence phase is a burden for both the medical organizations and the government."