Doctors say gov't abused power by suspending their licenses

Social Affairs

Published: 19 Mar. 2024, 18:59 Updated: 19 Mar. 2024, 19:42

Doctors say gov't abused power by suspending their licenses

Medical professionals run into a hospital in Seoul on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

A doctors’ group on Tuesday reported the government for abuse of power to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, firing back against the government's penalty imposed on doctors.

The doctors’ retaliation comes a day after the Health Ministry suspended the medical licenses of senior doctors from the Korean Medical Association (KMA). The suspensions were the first to be executed amid a mass walkout of junior doctors over the medical school admissions quota hike.

Another doctors' group chaired by Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Pediatric Association, filed a complaint against Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong and Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo on charges of infringing upon doctors' rights and abuse of authority.

“These two ministerial figures acted unlawfully and unconstitutionally by ordering general hospital directors nationwide to not process junior doctors’ resignations in order to push ahead with the government’s plan to hike the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 seats without consulting medical professionals,” Lim told reporters at the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.

He also said the government had violated the basic rights of some 13,000 trainee doctors by abusing state power.

Two doctors holding senior leadership positions at the KMA on Monday confirmed that they had received three-month-long license suspension notices from the Health Ministry. Their licenses will be temporarily suspended from mid-April.

Kim Taek-woo, chief of the emergency committee of the KMA and Park Myung-ha, president of the Seoul Medical Association, received the final notices on Monday.

The two are accused of instigating a mass protest last month by encouraging doctors and trainees to take collective action.

Park wrote in his Facebook post on Monday that he will file a legal complaint to an administrative court to challenge the legitimacy of the license suspension.

President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul on Tuesday. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday adoped a stronger line that underscored the government’s unwavering stance toward medical reform, spending over half of his 28-minute-long speech addressing the current standoff.

“Medical licenses which were granted to doctors to save people’s lives should not become a means of risking and threatening them,” Yoon said during a Cabinet meeting held at the presidential office in central Seoul.

“It is disappointing that medical professors, who are responsible for safeguarding patients’ health and persuading striking doctors to return to their posts, are failing to fulfill their duties.”

Yoon added that a 2,000-seat increase in medical college admission quota is the “bare minimum” to treat the country’s rapidly aging population.

Noting experts’ predictions that people over the age of 65 will account for almost 30 percent of Korea’s total population by 2035, Yoon warned that health care demand will “soar explosively.”

“Current policy for maintaining adequate manpower in the medical sector is far removed from reality,” the president said. “Our country failed to address the issue properly. While other nations — France, Japan and the United States — have been expanding their medical recruitment quotas, Korea did not add a single seat over the past 27 years.”

Yoon noted that the increase in the number of doctors will “never undermine the medical service qualities” and will instead benefit the medical sector.

But he also emphasized that the “cooperation of doctors is most required” for medical reform to occur.

Yoon further announced that a presidential special committee for medical reform will be established next month to “bring the government and doctors together to have candid talks.”

“The fierce competition among medical professionals will help develop and cultivate talent," Yoon said. "Additionally, the increased number of providers in the industry will lead to market growth, further expanding opportunities."

The Health Ministry on Tuesday publicly posted a notice listing 1,308 striking junior doctors who had received a return-to-work order. The authorities confirmed their absences through an on-site inspection earlier this month.

The delivery of the notices means that the ministry has completed its procedures to hand down administrative punishments such as license suspension and to take legal action.

The ministry wrote that “refusing the order without proper reasons can be subject to [administrative] measures and criminal charges per the Medical Service Act.”

Under current law, disobeying the government’s return-to-work order can result in a yearlong medical license suspension and up to three years’ imprisonment or a maximum fine of 30 million won ($22,387).

The government says it will dispatch 250 more active-duty public health doctors and military doctors to general hospitals nationwide next week, according to the JoongAng Ilbo on Tuesday.

A total of 154 public medical personnel — 134 public health doctors and 20 military doctors — have already been deployed to general hospitals nationwide since March 11.

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