Korean Prime Minister Urges Medical School Professors to Persuade Students Instead of Unjustified Collective Actions

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo Chairs Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting
Emphasizes Determination for Direct Breakthrough
Korea "Medical Reform, a Challenge for All in Our Era"

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on the 13th requested some medical school professors who had announced their intention to submit collective resignation letters to "actively persuade their students to return to the patients instead of participating in unjustified collective actions."

At the 'Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) for Doctors' Collective Action' meeting held at the Government Sejong Complex that morning, Prime Minister Han said, "Medical school professors acknowledge that medical reform is an urgent task, but they are demanding a reconsideration of increasing medical school quotas. They have also stated that if their demands are not met, they themselves will leave their patients."

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Han criticized, "As the illegal collective actions of residents have prolonged, patients' suffering and inconvenience have deepened. Medical associations and residents are ignoring patients' appeals and are insisting on the complete cancellation of the increase in medical school quotas." He then emphasized that medical school professors persuading residents is the way to protect both the residents and their students, as well as patients' lives. Earlier, representatives of emergency response committees from 19 medical schools including Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Ulsan University, and Catholic University held an online meeting the previous night to discuss joint response measures such as 'submission of resignation letters' and decided to determine by the 15th whether professors at each medical school will resign.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the government is investing human and financial efforts to improve medical conditions, it repeatedly urged doctors to return to the field. Since demands from the medical community such as strengthening compensation for pediatric and maternal care, critical care, and regional medical services, improving working conditions for residents, enacting a special law on medical accidents, and increasing 1,000 professors at national universities are underway, the government again urged doctors to resume their duties.

Regarding the medical community's claim that "there was no consultation about increasing medical school quotas," Prime Minister Han once again refuted it. He pointed out, "Despite the government seeking opinions from the medical community through various channels, they remained silent. It is truly regrettable that now they say there was a lack of scientific analysis or insufficient consultation." He added, "Medical reform is a task for all of us in this era. We cannot just pass it over lightly again."