Government Expected to Announce Full Withdrawal of Disciplinary Actions Against Non-returning Residents Today

The government is expected to fully withdraw sanctions against more than 10,000 resident doctors who have resigned.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for the doctors' collective action will hold a briefing after a meeting at the Government Seoul Office on the afternoon of the 8th. Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong will personally announce the results.

At the meeting, a plan is expected to be discussed not to impose administrative sanctions such as license suspension on about 12,000 residents who have resigned and have not returned to hospitals. Additionally, measures to maximize the recruitment of residents for the second half of this year starting in September and to allow retraining at other hospitals, which was previously not permitted, are also expected to be discussed.

Earlier, on the 4th of last month, the government withdrew various orders issued to residents and their affiliated training hospitals, including orders to maintain medical services, orders to commence work, and acceptance of resignation letters, and suspended the license suspension administrative procedures. However, it had not disclosed specific measures for residents who had not returned. Meanwhile, the return rate of residents has not recovered at all. As of the 4th, only 1,104 (8.0%) out of 13,756 residents at 211 training hospitals nationwide have returned.

It is interpreted that the government has come up with a desperate measure to maximize support for residents' training in the second half of the year. Since the government is fully withdrawing related sanctions, it is analyzed that it made this decision viewing medical normalization as more urgent, even if criticisms such as 'fairness with residents who have already returned' and 'excessive pardon' are expected.

For the resigned residents to start training again from September 1, the second half of the year, training hospitals must identify the shortage of personnel by mid-month and finalize recruitment targets and schedules. If the number of recruited residents falls short again in the second half, medical service gaps will inevitably continue. Therefore, it is interpreted that the plan is to confirm how many residents are willing to return to hospitals and induce medical normalization starting in September.

To encourage residents' return, restrictions related to specialty and year of training are also expected to be revised. According to the current resident appointment examination guidelines, residents who resign during training cannot return to the same specialty and year within one year. However, if this is revised to encourage return, residents who left will be able to work in the same department and year at other hospitals starting this September. Previously, some training hospital directors also requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare to revise these guidelines to facilitate residents' return.