ILO dismisses junior doctors' petition amid looming license suspensions

Social Affairs

Published: 21 Mar. 2024, 18:48 Updated: 21 Mar. 2024, 19:03

ILO dismisses junior doctors' petition amid looming license suspensions

A patient in a general hospital in Seoul cries and sits down on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The International Labour Organization (ILO) dismissed the junior doctors' intervention petition as the Korean government inches toward suspending the doctors' licenses.

“According to the ILO, the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) is not eligible to file such an intervention complaint because it is not a representative labor union or group,” the Labor Ministry said in its press release on Thursday.

The KIRA requested the ILO for an emergency intervention on March 13, claiming the government forced them to do compulsory labor by issuing return-to-work orders.

Junior doctors have been protesting by walking out since Feb. 20.

“It is standard practice that the international body seeks a statement from the [involved] government upon receiving a complaint,” the ministry said. “However, the government was not contacted by the ILO. The international organization said the case was closed [because it was invalid] when the ministry asked about the ongoing status [of the complaint].”

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo speaks during a briefing at the governmental complex in central Seoul on Thursday. [YONHAP]

On the same day, Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said the government will suspend protesting junior doctors' medical licenses “in principle” starting next week during a Central Disaster Management Headquarters meeting.

Park urged the trainee doctors to “return immediately to hospitals for their colleagues carrying the extra burden caused by their absence, for themselves who chose to become doctors and for patients.”

“Although the government has given junior doctors a certain period of time to elaborate on their stances, none of them did so,” Park said, adding that the expiry of the grace period means “executing penalties.”

“Once the ministry finalizes its administrative procedures, the license suspensions become effective automatically, regardless of junior doctors’ refusal to receive the notices [of their penalties].”

A medical professional by a staircase inside a general hospital in Daegu on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The Health Ministry explained that the doctors’ noncompliance with the governmental order could “negatively affect their future career” in a press release on Thursday.

Junior doctors admitted to a yearlong internship must register their employment information by the end of March. Without registering, they will be unable to start their residency in the following year due to lack of training hours.

Any junior doctor — in an internship or residency — whose absence goes over a month needs to undergo extra training. Additional training exceeding three months can cause a yearlong delay in becoming board-certified doctors.

According to the ministry, junior doctors who have not attended medical duties since March and those who are subject to a three-month-long license suspension need to have additional training that will last over three months.

In light of the possible consequences on their trainees, the head of the professor's group said Thursday that they could revoke their decision to collectively resign on March 25.

“If the government eases the punishment on junior doctors and sets an occasion for both parties to enter talks, medical professors can cancel the decision to step down [from college and hospitals],” said Bang Jae-seung, the head of the emergency committee of the medical professors' group on Thursday.

Medical professionals check the condition of a patient transported by an ambulance at a general hospital in downtown Seoul on Thursday. [NEWS1]

Another medical professors’ group, the Medical Professor Association of Korea, said Thursday that they will cap their weekly working hours at 52 hours starting next Monday.

Ever since junior doctors staged their walkout last month, other doctors have been taking extra shifts to cover their absences.

“The decision came from psychological and physical stress from overworking,” said Cho Yun-jung, chief of public relations of the association. “Because of the excessive workload, doctors [staying in the medical front line] feel powerless and are exhausted due to sleep deprivation.”

The doctors’ group also decided to minimize appointments for outpatients to prioritize safe treatment for emergency and critically ill patients starting April 1.

The association added that it “understands professors’ resignations [set to happen on March 25] are the last resort that the professors could do in this current situation.”

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