Patient Groups Welcome Government Proposal to Withdraw Administrative Sanctions on Residents

Patient organizations expressed their strong support on the 8th for the government's decision not to impose administrative sanctions on resident doctors who did not return after resignation.

On the 17th, when professors at Seoul National University Hospital began an indefinite strike demanding the resolution of the resident doctor crisis, patients and their families were looking at the medical staff at Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

The Korea Severe Disease Alliance stated in a commentary on the same day, "While making efforts to bring resident doctors back, efforts must also be made simultaneously to secure the insufficient number of resident doctors."

The alliance emphasized, "The most urgent area in university hospitals is the anesthesiology department in operating rooms," adding, "Since this field does not require direct face-to-face patient care, the shortage of anesthesiologists for surgeries in medical settings must be resolved promptly."

The alliance demanded ▲ opening the anesthesiology field in operating rooms to foreign doctors with licenses ▲ immediate deployment of foreign doctors with licenses at training hospitals who have no language barriers.