"Too Embarrassed to Hide Behind" First Resignation Letter from a Current Medical School Professor Emerges

Professor Yoon Woosung "Already Burned Out... Just Drained"

As the government has initiated procedures such as license suspension and legal action against residents who submitted resignation letters in protest of the policy to increase medical school quotas, a current medical school professor has for the first time expressed his intention to resign.

Yoon Woo-sung, a professor of transplant vascular surgery at Kyungpook National University, stated on social media (SNS) on the 4th, "I am quitting my position as a surgery professor. As others may know, I have long been burned out, and I am just exhausted." He added, "Through this opportunity, I plan to look back on my life, which I have been living busily focusing only forward, to reconsider the meaning of family that I had forgotten, and to try living a normal life."

On the 4th, residents at Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul, held a picket protest and distributed flyers opposing the government's medical policy.

Regarding the residents who have left the field, Professor Yoon said, "There is no rosy future, but surgical residents who entered because they liked it are becoming discouraged and giving up, and the government is only threatening them as if slapping a crying child." He added, "The government, which should be responsible for the current medical reality, and we, the senior generation of doctors, should be the ones criticized, but instead, the residents who have not been doctors for long are bearing all the blame."

He continued, "Currently, there is no rational or logical discussion about the medical issues, and the government is only focused on swaying public opinion," concluding that "it is difficult to expect a reasonable conclusion or consensus."

Professor Yoon also sharply criticized medical school professors. He said, "The so-called scholars at university headquarters make no effort to understand the essence and reality, nor do they consider the consequences of the policy. Ignoring the opinions of the relevant departments, they accept government policies only looking at immediate benefits and make various demands, leaving me speechless and unable to comment." He went on to say, "In this situation, not being a shield and hiding behind repeating only 'we oppose this,' passively waiting for things to be resolved somehow, is very shameful," explaining his reason for submitting his resignation letter.

Meanwhile, on the 4th, the government announced that a three-month license suspension is inevitable for residents who have left the field. Park Min-soo, the 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, said at a regular briefing on the 4th, "We will inspect the field and respond according to laws and principles regarding violations," adding, "We will take strict and swift action against key figures involved in collective actions that caused confusion in the medical field."

Regarding residents who did not comply with the government's order to resume work, he warned, "A minimum three-month license suspension is inevitable," and "The period to obtain specialist qualifications will be delayed by more than a year due to failure to complete the residency training period."