Government and doctors must start dialogue

Almost a month has passed since trainee doctors who are a crucial part of general hospitals abandoned their workplaces after handing in resignations in mass against the government’s plan to increase next year’s enrollment quota for medical schools by 2,000. Medical disorder and a vacuum are worsening with no sign of the government and medical community trying to narrow their differences.

On Friday, 16 medical school professors and specialty doctors issued a joint statement, urging both the government and medical communities to find a reasonable solution to weather the ongoing medical crisis from doctors’ walkouts. They hoped that the momentum could prompt a genuine reform in the medical sector through cooperation among the people, medical circles and the government.

They promised to “proactively” join the “courageous” journey of self-reflection and change. They also asked the government to pay heed to the voices of the understaffed primary medical divisions and openly engage in a critical debate on its medical policy. Their joint statement urged the government to stop making threatening remarks towards trainee doctors.

The statement has drawn more than 5,000 signatures from medical professors, specialty doctors and medical staffers at hospitals and clinics over the last three days, suggesting much support for dialogue.

The government has been trying to fill the void of trainee doctors by recruiting reserve doctors and allowing licensed nurses to practice some of the duties of trainee doctors. Patients with less severe illnesses have turned to clinics and smaller hospitals.

Still, such makeshift actions cannot last long. Large hospitals have cut surgeries in half and merged wards due to staff shortages. Senior doctors are burning out for working overtime. The financial toll is also growing. Pusan National University Hospital is expected to run a deficit of 10 billion won ($75.7 million) this month alone due to the rollback in surgeries and outpatients. At this rate, medical industry could collapse.

Doctors abandoning their patients cannot be tolerated. But the government should have tried to prevent it harder. The government has shown no eagerness to talk with doctors. It only once notified a date and place for dialogue with trainee doctors, but fewer than 10 showed up.

The government must set the mood for dialogue and do all it can to start talking. It must signal that it is open to all possibilities. The government is just contradicting itself if it cannot persuade 10,000 doctors and 10,000 medical students to return though it wants to increase the number of doctors by 10,000 in 10 years time.