The National Association of Metropolitan and Provincial Medical Association Presidents has indicated its willingness to engage in a total strike with resident doctors if the medical school quota increase is forcibly implemented.
In a statement on the 3rd, the association said, "If medical policies proceed excluding the opinions of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), the highest expert organization, it is clear that the result will directly lead to harm to the lives of all citizens," signaling their intention to strike.
The association urged, "If the government truly wants to revive essential and regional medical care and expects continued cooperation with the medical community, it must have a thorough discussion on the issue of medical personnel in the (KMA) Medical Issues Council." The government and the KMA have held a total of 27 meetings over the past year since January last year through the Medical Issues Council.
The association claimed, "The government showed an unreasonable behavior by not discussing the scale of medical school quota increases at all in the Medical Issues Council until now, and suddenly sending an official letter to the KMA requesting opinions on the scale of the increase." They also criticized the essential medical care policy package announced by the government on the 1st of this month as "insufficient."
To attract doctors to essential medical fields, the government plans to invest over 10 trillion won to significantly raise fees for essential medical services and to promote the 'Medical Accident Handling Special Act,' which exempts prosecution for medical accidents. To reduce non-covered medical expenses, which are a major cause of increased medical costs, the government also plans to ban 'mixed treatment,' which combines non-covered and covered services.
The association stated, "The ban on mixed treatment of non-covered services restricts patients' treatment choices," and expressed "strong anger and regret over excluding fatal accidents and cosmetic/plastic surgery from the medical accident handling special act, and attempts to control medical licenses through the introduction of opening licenses and license renewal systems." They added, "The government must now properly and sufficiently discuss essential medical measures with the KMA in the Medical Issues Council," emphasizing that if the policy is forcibly implemented as is, they will enter a total strike.
According to the medical community, the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) held an emergency representatives meeting online yesterday afternoon to review the main points of the government policy and discuss response measures in case the medical school quota increase is announced.
KIRA is considered the most influential group among doctors in case of strikes or collective actions. Last month, they released survey results showing that 86% of respondents among resident doctors expressed willingness to engage in collective action if the medical school quota increase is forcibly implemented.
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