Medical professors turn away from patients

University faculty doctors are readying to join the mass resignations of their pupils and trainee doctors amid the head-on clash between junior doctors and the government over the latter’s plan to increase the enrollment quota for medical schools. The medical professors’ walkout could mean a complete collapse of general hospital medical care, as they have been mostly covering up for the vacuum in trainee doctors.

Professors at Seoul National University (SNU) College of Medicine warned they would hand in their resignations if there’s no change in the government’s position by March 18. An emergency committee representing professors of 19 medical schools will decide this week.

The lengthy standoff is worsening the conditions at general hospitals. Wonkwang University Hospital had to close four wards. Without medical professors, who have to care for inpatients on behalf of their junior doctors, as well as outpatients, hospital medical care would entirely come down. Professors criticize the rigidity of the government sticking to its original plan to increase the enrollment by 2,000 from next year. Doctors and the government make no compromises with each other at the expense of public health.

Doctors must not give up on a patient under any circumstances. A professor of medicine teaches that virtue to would-be doctors. A teacher of medicine must not threaten to victimize patients for collective purposes.

SNU professors plan to resign on March 18 because it is the day when the resignation of trainee doctors takes effect. To take care for their own students, the professors are out to abandon patients whose lifeline depends on their care. Patient complaints reached 472 as of Monday since the walkout. Surgery delays also amounted to 329 and appointment cancellation numbered 79. These are just reported counts.

The government has dispatched 20 military doctors and 138 public clinic doctors to general hospitals. But the number hardly can be of any relief in the absence of 12,000 trainee doctors. It is imperative for the medical community and government to talk out their differences. SNU professors’ suggestion of seeking foreign experts’ advice on the enrollment increase is unrealistic, but their advice for a compromise on the issue is worth listening to.

Still, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo reiterated that the increase of 2,000 will be maintained. Hallym University was among the first to send the “flunk” notification to 83 freshmen of its medical school. Collective suspension on medical students could add to the confusion.

Instead of intimidating junior doctors by setting the deadline for their return, the government must try to talk to them with sincerity. Medical school professors joining the walkout would only worsen the crisis. They must remember they could pay the price if they abandon public health.