Kyungsillyeon "Ruling party's crushing defeat in general election blamed on medical school expansion? Shamelessness of the medical community"

"Enforcing Entry for Medical Privileges... Egotistical Thinking"

The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) criticized the medical community, which claimed that the ruling party's crushing defeat in the general election was a public judgment on the increase in medical school quotas, calling it "the height of impudence and shamelessness by the very party responsible for creating the medical crisis."

On the 15th, CCEJ released a statement titled 'The 22nd General Election, the Medical Community's Claim of Public Judgment on Medical School Quota Increase,' criticizing, "It is simply astonishing to interpret the election results as public sentiment on the medical school quota increase and for the medical community to unite as a 'one team' to block the increase."

Medical staff are moving at a university hospital in Seoul on the 15th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

They added, "It is hard to deny that the ruling party's overwhelming defeat in the general election was caused by President Yoon Seok-yeol's lack of communication and immature governance," and stated, "Civil society, consumer, and patient groups have continuously demanded the government to proceed with increasing medical school quotas, and the claim that the government unilaterally decided the scale of the increase is nothing but the medical community's one-sided assertion."

CCEJ pointed out, "The medical community, which endangered public lives and caused inconvenience through illegal actions, fails to grasp the situation and abuses the election results to demand a complete reconsideration from the government," adding, "This is the extreme of egocentric thinking that prioritizes maintaining privileges over the doctor's fundamental duty to protect the lives and safety of the people."

They continued, "The medical community arbitrarily interprets the election results as public sentiment on the medical school quota increase, proposes a single plan of 'complete reconsideration,' and resident doctors who resigned are reportedly suing the Vice Minister of Health and Welfare," questioning, "How much longer must the public endure and wait for such a medical community behavior intoxicated with a sense of privilege?"

Regarding the government, they urged, "The government cannot be free from responsibility for the situation, having maintained a non-democratic and closed bilateral consultation structure between the medical and political sectors for two years without legal grounds," and called on the government, "It must no longer be swayed by the medical community and delay policy implementation."