Medical professors to resign if gov't suspends junior doctors

Professors at Jeju National University's medical school call on the government to abandon its plan to increase medical recruitment by 2,000 slots next year on Friday. [YONHAP]

Professors at three leading medical schools resolved to resign en masse to protest the government's intent to punish junior doctors who have remained on strike in objection to the medical recruitment expansion plan.

As of Friday, medical faculties at Seoul National University (SNU), the University of Ulsan and the Catholic University of Korea have decided to collectively resign should the government make good on its threat to suspend the licenses of interns and resident doctors who continue to defy its return-to-work order.

SNU and the Catholic University of Korea both operate major teaching hospitals in Seoul and across the country, while the University of Ulsan’s medical school has a long-running training scheme based at Asan Medical Center, the largest general hospital in the country.

None of the three faculties have yet to act on their decisions, but they warned that they could quit if the government begins to suspend licenses.

Representatives of 19 medical faculties are scheduled to hold an online meeting later in the day to decide what collective action they should take in response to the government’s moves against junior doctors on strike.

In a statement earlier this week, the Medical Professors Association of Korea, which represents professors from 33 medical schools, also said they would take collective action if junior doctors or medical students “suffer any harm” for taking part in the ongoing walkout, which entered its 25th day on Friday.

Medical professors in Korea play a central role in training junior doctors and overseeing fellows at teaching hospitals.

Not only are professors practicing physicians, they are also often the foremost specialists in their fields.

A mass resignation by professors could deal a serious blow to the government’s efforts to break the doctors’ strike as it could lead to a dangerous void of expertise in patient care and medical education.

By law, doctors’ resignations are automatically processed one month after submission.

The ongoing walkout has already resulted in lengthy delays in scheduling procedures at larger hospitals, which rely heavily on interns and residents to assist senior doctors during surgeries and inpatient treatment.

Surveys of medical faculties that have taken place across the country in the past week indicate that professors largely favor resigning if the government does not change course.

Senior doctors at Seoul National University Hospital decided on Monday that they would collectively resign if the government fails to offer a breakthrough out of the current impasse by early next week.

At Jeonbuk National University in North Jeolla, 155 medical professors out of 188 who participated in the faculty association’s survey this week said they intend to submit resignation letters if the government pushes through with its plan to penalize junior doctors.

According to sources, the medical faculties of Gyeongsang National University and Chungbuk National University have also voted largely in favor of resigning.

At an official response meeting on Friday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong urged medical professors not to resign, warning them that the public “will find it difficult to sympathize with professors who choose to abandon their patients rather than persuade junior doctors and students to return to hospitals and schools.”

In a Gallup survey released on Friday, 47 percent of respondents said the government should stick to its original plan to increase medical recruitment, while 41 percent said it should compromise.

In the same survey, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating slipped by three percentage points from the previous week to 36 percent, which the pollster attributed to souring public sentiment regarding the government’s plan.

But the government is showing little sign of backing down on a policy that it has called long overdue and necessary.

Deputy Health Minister Jun Byung-wang warned striking trainees on Friday that they are legally barred from taking up other employment by the government’s return-to-work order and reiterated the ministry’s earlier directive to hospitals to not process resignations submitted by junior doctors.

On Thursday, the Health Ministry also said that 80 percent of the new medical school spots will be located at institutions outside of the capital region.

Over 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 junior doctors have walked off their jobs to protest the government’s decision to expand the current medical school admissions quota of 3,058 by 2,000 spots beginning next year.

The government says more doctors are needed in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine. Doctors claim that such shortages are due to too many trainees entering lucrative fields, such as cosmetic surgery and dermatology, and argue that the government should focus first on improving compensation in low-paying sectors.

Doctors’ groups also argue that increased recruitment will degrade the quality of medical education and overburden the public health insurance system, but critics claim that doctors oppose increased recruitment for fear of higher competition in Korea’s private provider-dominated health care system.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]