KMA: "Government Must Withdraw Administrative Order and Halt Medical School Expansion for Dialogue"

"Showing at Least Minimal Sincerity"

The Korean Medical Association stated that for dialogue to take place, the government must withdraw the administrative orders issued to residents and halt the process of increasing their numbers.

Kim Taek-woo, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the Korean Medical Association. / Photo by Choi Tae-won peaceful1@

The Association's Emergency Response Committee held a regular briefing on the 24th at the KMA headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and announced this. Kim Taek-woo, chairman of the Emergency Response Committee, said, "Dialogue excluding residents and students is meaningless in the current situation," adding, "At the very least, the withdrawal of the unfair administrative orders issued to residents and stopping the increase process would show the government's minimum sincerity to lead to a dialogue."

He also urged understanding for the medical school professors who intend to resign. He said, "We hope the government understands how heavy a decision it is for them to decide to leave the hospital," adding, "These are people who consider it their vocation to remain at the university, train juniors, research diseases, and create hope for patients. We ask that you do not mock their desperate decision to leave the university."

Chairman Kim said, "Starting in May, we will experience a Korea we have never experienced before. 18,000 medical students from 40 medical schools nationwide will disappear for a year. 12,000 residents from training hospitals nationwide will not return. We cannot predict when the residents who have left will come back," urging the president to make a decision. "In 2025, no new doctors will be produced. This means that even the minimum number of personnel to be assigned as public health doctors will not be allocated."

In the following Q&A session, Kim Sung-geun, chairman of the Emergency Response Committee's Public Relations Committee, also expressed concern about the professors' resignation movement. He said, "Professor resignations differ from resident resignations in that the departure of even one professor can make hospital treatment itself impossible," adding, "Please do not focus on how many professors resign, but rather pay attention to preventing professors from resigning."

Additionally, the KMA stated that it has never received a proposal for the '5+4 consultative body' from the government. Chairman Kim Sung-geun said, "The government has never proposed a 5+4 dialogue to the KMA," adding, "It is meaningless for people without decision-making authority to gather and talk in any form."