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Doctors cannot win a battle with the public

Published: 14 Feb. 2024, 20:30

The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), representing doctors in training, has decided to shift to an emergency mode after an online assembly. Although falling short of proclaiming an immediate collective action, they nevertheless left the door open to a walk-out in protest to the government’s plan to increase enrollment quota of medical schools. Representatives of the KIRA reportedly discussed the option of individually breaking their training contracts after the government banned medical institutions from accepting their resignations in mass.

The association has already secured signatures from 88.2 percent from trainee doctors who support a collective action. The Korea Medical Association (KMA), an interest group of licensed doctors, and another group of doctors will be holding assemblies this week to discuss their action.

Confusion in medical services is inevitable as the government stays firm to its position and doctors threaten to take a collective action against the plan. Doctors will be liable for the inconvenience on patients and a threat to their lives. Doctors’ reasoning for a collective action cannot gain any sympathy. They can hardly deny a shortage in their number — 2.6 per 1,000 in the population, which is the lowest among members of the OECD after Mexico. Despite the thinning population from our ultralow fertility rate, the fast aging of society provokes a higher demand for medical services.

They argue the spike is too steep and sudden, but the proposed increase is within the accommodative boundaries suggested by medical schools. The government is also willing to discuss measures of funneling the increased quota to primary-care divisions and provincial areas.

Provocative comments by some doctors sound alarms. Former KMA chair Noh Hwan-kyu claimed on Facebook that the government cannot win against doctors. He pointed out that records showed that patients who died in critical condition during doctors’ strike in 2000 had been abandoned for days. He was more or less threatening the government by holding patients hostage.

The confidence of doctors come from their previous victory over the similar government plan through a general strike in 2022. But the situation differs from the time, when the country was busy fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. The government had tapped public opinion for more than a year and offered a package to improve the primary-care medical field this time. A survey conducted by the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union showed 89.3 percent backing the plan of increasing medical school quota.

Doctors cannot win a battle with the public. If they wish to avoid scorn about their selfishness and elitism, they must back their claims with detailed and accurate data to negotiate with the government before taking a collective action.