Government Announces Plan to Launch Consultative Body
to Address Resident Doctors' Demands for Training Continuity
The government has announced its intention to launch a consultative body in which doctors will directly participate, in order to discuss the demands of the resident doctors’ association for the guarantee of continuity in training.
On July 21, the Ministry of Health and Welfare stated, regarding the demands approved by the emergency committee of the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) at its temporary general assembly, that it "plans to hold consultations to establish measures for normalizing the healthcare system that meet public expectations."
The Ministry explained, "We will operate a training consultative body with the participation of the Korean Intern Resident Association, the Association of Training Hospitals, the Korean Medical Association, and the Training Environment Evaluation Committee to discuss improvements in the training environment and the guarantee of training continuity."
The Ministry also noted, "The 'Public Participation Medical Innovation Committee' (tentative name), which is currently under consideration for establishment, may discuss the essential medical care package and the alleviation of legal burdens related to medical accidents," and added, "For matters requiring legislation, sufficient social discussion, including the gathering of opinions from the medical community, will take place during the legislative process in the National Assembly."
Previously, on July 19, the emergency committee of KIRA held a temporary general assembly and finalized three demands: the formation of a consultative body centered on field experts to reconsider the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's essential medical policy package; improvement of the training environment for residents and the guarantee of training continuity; and the establishment of a discussion body to alleviate the legal burden related to medical accidents.
Within the medical community, it is believed that the guarantee of training continuity will have the greatest impact on whether residents return and on the scale of their return.
Currently, resident doctors who have resigned can apply for the second half recruitment of residents, which will be announced at the end of this month, and resume their training from September without any special measures. However, for residents who have not yet completed their mandatory military service, enlistment issues are cited as a factor making it difficult for them to decide to return. For this reason, there are also demands among residents for a system that would allow them to return to their original hospital and continue their training after completing their military service, if enlistment deferral is not possible.
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