Unable to Receive Medical Treatment Due to Closure, Complaint Filed with Police
"Violation of Government Work Resumption Order and Participation in Illegal Strike"
A doctor who participated in a collective strike was sued by a patient despite the patient's request not to close the clinic.
On the afternoon of the 17th, one day before the collective medical strike, an official at a clinic in Gyeonggi-do is posting a notice about the closure. The photo is not directly related to the content of the article. [Image source=Yonhap News]
On the 21st, patient groups reported that Mr. A, a resident of Gyeonggi Province, filed a complaint with the police against the head of a clinic located in Gwangmyeong-si, Gyeonggi Province, on charges including violation of the Medical Service Act. Mr. A, who has been suffering from an eye disease, visited the clinic on the 18th, when the Korean Medical Association (KMA) held a nationwide doctors' strike and rally, but was unable to receive treatment due to the closure.
Prior to this, Mr. A reportedly visited the clinic several days before the strike after hearing about the KMA's collective strike and asked the clinic not to close despite the strike. However, the doctor at the clinic eventually closed the door, and Mr. A demanded legal punishment, claiming that the clinic head violated the government's order to resume work and participated in an illegal strike. Mr. A is said to have stated, "My wife underwent a liver transplant surgery due to liver disease, so I was very angry about the doctors' strike."
On the 18th, the KMA forcibly carried out a collective strike in opposition to the government's medical policy initiatives, including increasing medical school quotas. As a result, the government issued orders to resume medical services and report closures to over 36,000 medical institutions, including clinics, on the 10th, and on the morning of the 18th, issued work resumption orders to private practitioners. According to government data, the nationwide medical institution closure rate on the day of the strike was 14.9%. The government plans to conduct on-site investigations in regions where the closure rate exceeded 30% to verify whether there were legitimate reasons for the closures and will decide on administrative sanctions for non-compliance with work resumption orders at the local government level.
The KMA announced that it will form a special committee composed mainly of medical school professors and residents and will discuss an indefinite strike starting on the 22nd if the government does not change its stance on the 'three major demands.' The three major demands are ▲ re-discussion of medical school quota increases with the medical community ▲ discussion of essential medical policies with the medical community ▲ immediate retroactive cancellation of administrative sanctions against residents and medical students.
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