Gov't commits $2.2B to pediatrics, obstetrics amid admission quotas debate

A medical doctor heads to an emergency room for child patients in a hospital located in Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo announced on Monday that the government plans to inject over 3 trillion won ($2.2 billion) into pediatrics and obstetrics.

Park said that more than 5 trillion won would be invested in medical departments facing labor shortages due to high occupational risk and labor intensity, such as neurology, cardiology and replantation surgery.

The fund will be utilized to compensate medical professionals serving in these essential medical fields.

On the same day, a presidential official stated that the government is "open to dialogue" with the medical sector regarding the expansion of admission quotas at medical colleges.

Jang Sang-yoon, senior presidential secretary for social policy, said, "The government will discuss any matters related to the admission quota increase" during an appearance on a CBS radio show on the same day.

“The Health Ministry and medical sector have been communicating below the surface,” Jang said.

When asked whether the government's concession on a 2,000-seat increase in admission quotas should precede in bringing medical professionals to the table, Jang responded, "We are open to the agenda."

Jang's words may suggest the possibility of the government compromising on the number of seats to add in upcoming medical college admissions.

"Medical professionals have been suggesting numbers like 350 and 500 concerning the increase in quota. However, there should be substantiating evidence [supporting the numbers]," said Jang.

"The supply of labor is not an issue where people could tentatively decide to have a 300-seat increase because a 500-seat expansion feels excessive," Jang added.

“The presidential approach is to explain and persuade based on scientific and logical evidence regarding why the government is pursuing the addition of 2,000 seats in the upcoming medical college admissions.”

The presidential secretary criticized the medical professors’ decision to file resignations, saying their actions are “coercing the public.”

"Medical professors hold dual titles, which are college faculty and doctor. If they leave the hospital as doctors, their collective actions violate the Medical Service Act. Accordingly, the authorities will respond to such happenings based on principles and the rule of law."

"The collective actions of junior trainee doctors, board-certified doctors and medical professors have become stronger over the past two decades, including the 2000 doctors' strike due to drug policy reform — giving more medicine-selling authorities to pharmacists — and the 2020 doctors' walkouts ignited by the government's push to install public medical colleges," Jang said.

"Today, the government thinks such a repeating trajectory and behaviors should not be left to happen again."

Regarding the trainee doctors' request for intervention from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the secretary said, "The international organization cannot mandate the government to take certain actions."

"Upon the call from labor unions or entities, the ILO delivers their voices [to the government] or makes inquiries to the government."

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