[Reporter’s Notebook] Ministry of Health and Welfare to Reduce Briefings as Situation Stabilizes

The Ministry of Health and Welfare will suspend daily briefings related to the medical crisis starting from the 23rd. Briefings related to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters' response to the doctors' collective action will be held only as needed. The reason for the suspension, revealed by Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry, is 'stabilization of the situation.' He said in a businesslike tone while looking at the broadcast camera at the end of the morning briefing on the 22nd, which became the 'last' one, "Recently, the statistics on the emergency medical system have been very stable and unchanged, unlike the initial phase of resident doctors' withdrawal. The necessity for daily briefings has diminished."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has issued various measures almost daily since February 8, right after announcing the increase in medical school admissions. Among them, the unwavering principles were mechanical administrative sanctions against non-returning resident doctors and the absolute number of 2,000 additional admissions. However, the claims repeatedly made in briefings as the responsible ministry were overturned like a sandcastle in a day due to decisions made outside the ministry.

The strict suspension of licenses for non-returning resident doctors, which was said to have "no exceptions," was completely halted on the 24th of last month as soon as President Yoon Seok-yeol instructed Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to "seek flexible handling measures." Regarding the 2,000 additional admissions, the Ministry consistently emphasized that the number was "based on scientific evidence," but immediately fell silent when the six national university presidents proposed through the Minister of Education on the 19th to allow "autonomous recruitment within 50-100% of the increased quota." Rather than resolving the crisis as the medical oversight ministry, the Ministry of Health and Welfare ended up just raising its voice and staring down the doctors, only to collapse under external pressure. Consequently, the authority of the briefings and the credibility of the measures plummeted.

As the conflict between the medical community and the government prolonged, the Ministry of Health and Welfare also exhausted the new cards it could play. At some point, the briefings became nothing more than parrot-like recitations of the number of patients admitted to intensive care units, emergency room operation status, and messages demanding 'dialogue' from the medical community. Vice Minister Park said the reason for stopping the briefings was "because the situation is stable," but to reporters, it sounded like "because there is nothing to say."

However, it would be irresponsible for the Ministry not to inform the public about the state of the medical service gap. The fact that the Prime Minister and Vice Ministers are holding meetings daily wearing civil defense uniforms shows that the largest medical crisis since the founding of the nation has no clear end in sight. Judging the situation as 'stable' just because the number of hospitalized patients has not changed significantly and there is no reduction in emergency room beds is a dereliction of government duty. The Ministry of Health and Welfare must rack its brains to devise new measures to protect patients and the public and to persuade the medical community, create new messages, and stand before the microphone again.