Resident Representative: "Training Hospital Professors Are Middle Managers in the Exploitation Chain"

"Neglecting Medical Commercialization and Marketization: The State's Major Responsibility"

Park Dan, the emergency response committee chairman of the Korean Intern Resident Association (Daejeon Association), posted on the 12th that "professors at training hospitals are middle managers in the exploitation chain, and the government has neglected this with short-sighted policies."

Park Dan, Chairperson of the Daejeon Association Emergency Committee attending the emergency committee meeting [Photo by Yonhap News]

On the same day, Chairman Park wrote on Facebook under the title "Two Axes, Therefore," stating, "It is none other than the government and hospitals that have given unprecedented power to the residents."

He shared an article titled "A Country Swayed by 12,000 Residents," pointing out, "Professors at training hospitals declared they would not stand by if residents who left the hospitals suffered disadvantages, but whether they admit it or not, they have played the role of middle managers in the exploitation chain." He also wrote, "Hospitals, the parties involved in the issue, are pretending to be innocent victims of medical-government conflicts and are passing the burden entirely onto other healthcare workers." Recently, large hospitals claiming financial difficulties due to the departure of residents have been offering voluntary retirement to staff other than doctors.

Chairman Park targeted the structure of tertiary general hospitals, which have an abnormally high dependence on residents. He said, "University hospitals in the metropolitan area plan to competitively establish branch hospitals near the metropolitan area by 2028, but they have no plans to change the bizarre workforce structure with excessively high resident dependence," adding, "The state bears great responsibility for allowing the commercialization and marketization of the healthcare system to reach this situation." Residents account for 37.8% of all doctors in tertiary general hospitals, where most surgeries and treatments for severe and emergency patients are performed. In the case of the 'Big 5' hospitals, this figure reaches about 40%.

Earlier, on the 9th, Chairman Park also wrote, "It has been seven weeks since leaving the hospital. During that time, the government says it spent 500 billion won, and Seoul Asan Hospital reports a 50 billion won deficit," adding, "Most residents have been paid minimum wage. How much have residents really been exploited? Whose fault is it?"

Meanwhile, a large-scale resignation of medical school professors nationwide is scheduled for the 25th. The 25th marks one month since medical school professors submitted collective resignation letters, and under civil law, for workers without a fixed employment period, the resignation takes effect one month after expressing their intention to resign. The resignation is effective even if the university does not accept the resignation letter. The National Emergency Response Committee of Medical School Professors (Jeon-ui-bi), involving 16 medical schools, warned in a press release on the 12th that "the mental and physical limits of professors protecting hospitals and the large-scale resignation scheduled for April 25 will accelerate the current medical collapse."