With no signs of gov’t abating, junior doctors walk away

Social Affairs

Published: 13 Mar. 2024, 18:51 Updated: 13 Mar. 2024, 19:31

With no signs of gov’t abating, junior doctors walk away

Professors of Jeonbuk National University’s Medical School on Wednesday protest against the medical college admission quota hike before Education Minister Lee Ju-ho’s visit to the campus in North Jeolla on the same day. [YONHAP]

Junior doctors are walking away from their long-aspired dreams, claiming that the government’s medical reform will likely harm not only their personal careers but the medical industry as a whole.

Both senior and junior doctors accuse the government of its oppressive attitude and impractical policies, which might fail to properly address the predicted health care crisis.

A 33-year-old trainee doctor at Chungbuk National University Hospital’s neurology department, Baek Jong-seong, is one of the resigned junior doctors. He once believed that a work-to-rule order was appropriate and upheld the sacred calling of taking care of his patients. When his colleagues took off their white medical gowns and submitting resignations, he didn’t do so.

However, he changed his mind after receiving the government’s work resumption orders on Feb. 20 and 23 as well as an order to maintain his service on Feb. 26. He was attending his duties back then.

“With a coercive tone in the messages from the government, I could no longer pursue my career in such an environment,” Baek told the Korea JoongAng Daily. “The authorities undiscerningly sent such orders and warnings without properly checking on junior doctors' work status. It makes no sense that an active-duty doctor receives work-resumption orders.”

“After receiving the final order on Feb. 26, I filed my resignation and finished my final duty on Feb. 29.”

Work resumption order received on Feb. 20, left, another work resumption order received on Feb. 23, middle and an order to maintain medical duty received on Feb. 26. [BAEK JONG-SEONG]

On Wednesday, a professorial coalition of 19 medical colleges said they will decide about potential resignations by Friday.

“Of 40 medical colleges in the country, 19 teamed up to form an emergency committee to prevent the Korean medical sector from collapsing due to the students’ boycotting and junior trainee doctors' walkouts,” said the press release issued by the committee of Seoul National University and its hospital on Wednesday.

The decision for collegiate joint action came after a meeting with medical professors from the 19 colleges on Tuesday evening.

“Legal measures that will be imposed on trainee doctors and students’ leave of absence are the most pressing emergency today. The professors decided to unite to prevent the emergency," the faculties said.

A notice saying patients with light symptoms can be rejected for treatment at emergency room in Chungbuk National University in North Chungcheong in February. A 33-year-old trainee doctor at Chungbuk National University Hospital, Baek Jong-seong, used to work in the hospital until last month.[YONHAP]

Baek pointed out that the depleted mutual trust between medical professionals and the government is the fundamental cause of the status quo.

“Specifically, in 2020, after scrapping the policy to install public medical colleges [during the previous Moon Jae-in administration], the government and medical sector representatives promised to expand medical college enrollment quota through ‘constructive dialogue and consultation.’ However, at this time, the government already fixed the seats for the quota hike and anticipated the medical sector to conform to its decision,” he said.

The government’s “top-down decision making” will never help ease the situation, Baek said. He noted that medical professionals should participate in policy-making to design effective and detailed medical policies such as how to source 1,000 medical professors to public universities in a single year.

Signatories of a declaration demanding the government to include medical professionals in shaping and deciding medical policies totaled 7,755 as of Wednesday 10 a.m. It comprised 4,946 specialized doctors and 2,809 junior doctors and medical staff.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, center, presides over a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting in Sejong on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Wednesday said the government would not back down to the medical sector's backlash. The government is “battening down in preparation for [a prolonged medical chaos] arising from the current standoff,” Han said, adding its decision is for a “sustainable medical system and for people.”

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said on Wednesday that the “problem of patient overflow into large and general hospitals has alleviated” and “patients have been duly transported to proper medical centers according to their severity.”

The government will speed up the restructuring of medical institutions as one of its four main pillars of medical reform.

According to the governmental scheme, general hospitals providing tertiary care will treat “critically ill and emergency patients” and general hospitals or secondary care will handle “patients whose symptoms fall between critical and mild.” Local medical clinics offering primary care will diagnose “mildly symptomatic patients.”

The government will improve tertiary care hospitals’ clinical, research and treatment competencies. It envisions setting national universities’ hospitals as focal institutions for essential medical services in each region.

Specifically, it will bolster the functions and capabilities of secondary care hospitals, reflecting each area’s medical service demands. The authorities are considering designating three to four regional medical centers as “specialized secondary care hospitals for essential medical service.”

Medical professionals walk in a corridor at a general hospital in Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

The government is still calling for the return of striking junior doctors with a stick-and-carrot approach. It has been forewarning of medical license suspension since last month. However, on Monday, the Health Ministry said that “junior doctors returning before the finalization of the administrative penalties can be forgiven.”

Such inducement intends to dissuade them from resigning or continuing the walkouts.

However, Baek said there are no signs of returning among his colleagues or peer junior doctors, including himself.

He also doubts the government’s inconsistent grace period extensions, saying “It is unsure whether the authorities really intend to punish young resigned doctors.”

“From the perspective of junior doctors, the government originally warned of its action to penalize any walkouts immediately on Feb. 1 while announcing the quota hike by 2,000 seats. Then it changed its words, saying the grace period would end on Feb. 29 and March 3. Now, the government changed its stance again on Monday,” Baek said.

Medical professionals transport a bed and a patient to an emergency room at general hospital in Daegu on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

The government said that 20 military doctors and 138 public health doctors – who provide medical services in rural areas instead of serving in the army – would attend their medical duties at dispatched general hospitals starting Wednesday.

Their deployment serves to fill the medical professional void caused by junior doctors’ walkouts. The authorities are reviewing possibly placing an additional 200 public health doctors at general hospitals nationwide.

“Even when military and public health doctors are mobilized, their number comes to around some 1,000 people, far less than the junior doctors staging walkouts. Frankly speaking, the government’s decision to dispatch those resources will be ‘ineffective,’” an active-duty public health doctor surnamed Leem said to the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“It is skeptical whether military medical personnel could cover all the medical operations and examinations which were performed by highly-skilled trainee doctors.”

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]