Representative of Residents Calls First Meeting of Ruling and Opposition Health Policy Council "Meaningless... A Conversation Without Stakeholders"

The First Meeting of the Ruling and Opposition Party Council on the Morning of the 11th

The representative of the Sajik resident doctors criticized the ruling and opposition parties' medical council (the council), which held its first meeting on the morning of the 11th, as "meaningless."

Yonhap News

Park Dan, the emergency committee chair of the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), said on his personal SNS (social networking service) that "Han Dong-hoon, the leader of the People Power Party, is making idle remarks about wanting to have talks without the participation of resident doctors and medical students, the parties involved." He added, "I hope Leader Han Dong-hoon clearly states his position on the suspension of medical school admissions in 2025 and the abolition of the work commencement order."

He continued, "If he only pretends to do something while watching the situation, Han Dong-hoon's 'ruling and opposition medical council' will end up with the same conclusion as former Korean Medical Association (KMA) President Im Hyun-taek's 'Special Committee for Proper Medical Care (Special Committee).'"

The Special Committee was a pan-medical special committee led by the KMA to unify the medical community's stance amid medical-government conflicts. It was disrupted due to the absence of resident doctors and medical students and was disbanded last July.

Park said, "Even now, whether suspending medical school admissions in 2025 or accepting all seven demands, doing something would help mitigate the upcoming chaos even a little." He added, "The government and ruling party, ignoring this, must bear all responsibility."

Earlier, before the collective resignation of resident doctors in February, KIRA presented seven demands to the government: ▲ complete withdrawal of the plan to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 and the essential medical package ▲ establishment of a physician supply and demand forecasting body ▲ expansion of specialist recruitment in training hospitals ▲ legal burden relief for unavoidable medical accidents ▲ improvement of resident training environments ▲ withdrawal and apology for unfair orders ▲ complete abolition of the work commencement order, and has maintained its stance.

Meanwhile, the ruling and opposition medical council held its first meeting on the same day and decided to produce results by the end of December. The medical community participants included the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences and the Korean Association of Medical Colleges (KAMC). However, the Korean Medical Association, KIRA, and the Korean Medical Students Association (KMSA) have maintained their intention to abstain from participation.