Korea University Medical School Professor to Join KMA's Full Strike

Professors at Korea University College of Medicine have decided to join the Korean Medical Association's (KMA) full-scale strike.

Following the announcement of a collective strike plan by a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine and the Korea Medical Association (KMA), and as the National Council of Medical School Professors (Jeonui Gyohyeop) decided on the 12th whether to implement a "complete strike," escalating conflicts between the medical community and the government, a patient is seen moving in a large hospital in downtown Seoul on the morning of the 11th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Emergency Response Committee of Korea University College of Medicine, which includes Korea University Anam Hospital, Guro Hospital, and Ansan Hospital, announced on the 11th, "As a result of the vote held over two days from the 10th to the 11th, professors at Korea University Medical Center will participate in the full strike on the 18th," adding, "More than 90% of the professors agreed that future responses to the medical crisis should be unified under the leadership of the KMA."

They also stated, "Although three months have passed since residents and students left their training and academic sites due to the medical crisis, the government has maintained its stance of not yielding even a step to the residents' seven major demands, the Medical School Deans' Council, the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, or the mediation proposals from the National Emergency Response Committee of Medical School Professors," criticizing, "The government has focused on framing the medical community's opinions as collective selfishness to sway public opinion."

The Emergency Response Committee said, "On the 4th, the Minister of Health and Welfare encouraged residents to return by announcing the withdrawal of the order prohibiting residents' resignation and the order to resume work, while preparing a three-month license suspension for residents who do not return or resign," adding, "(The medical community's collective strike) is a united appeal from the entire medical community to the government and the public in a situation where the government's arbitrary and unscientific policies leave the medical community and medical school professors with no means."

They continued, "(The medical community's collective strike) is to protect junior colleagues, to safeguard the health rights of the next generation, and to reduce the explosive medical burden," asserting, "The medical community is voicing legitimate claims in unison to uphold the constitutional rights to freedom of occupational choice and freedom of assembly and association."