President Yoon affirms 'respect for voices of junior doctors' in face-to-face meeting

Social Affairs

Published: 04 Apr. 2024, 18:54 Updated: 04 Apr. 2024, 19:03

President Yoon affirms 'respect for voices of junior doctors' in face-to-face meeting

President Yoon Suk Yeol bows after finishing his public address on medical reform at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul on Monday, a day before inviting junior doctors to join a direct dialogue with him. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon Suk Yeol told the head of a major junior doctors’ group that he will “respect” the perspectives of doctors in training during an in-person meeting Thursday.

Yoon said he would “respect the voices of junior doctors when discussing medical reform, including the agenda of an admissions quota hike for medical schools,” according to his office.

The head of the Korea Intern Resident Association (KIRA), Park Dan, conveyed the junior doctors' message to Yoon in the meeting that ran from 2 p.m. to 4:20 p.m. at the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul.

Park accepted the president’s call on Tuesday to join for “in-person dialogue.”

The direct discussion between the head of the nation and the head of the junior doctors' group came 44 days after their strike began on Feb. 20.

“Park enlightened the president on the poor labor conditions and compensation, [and Yoon] listened carefully to his words,” said Kim Soo-kyung, presidential spokesperson, after Thursday’s meeting.

Earlier the same day, the KIRA said that it deemed a conversation with Yoon to be "worthwhile" as it could be "an opportunity to deliver the stances of junior doctors before the April 10 general election.”

It added that the “president’s will [for medical reform including a hike in the medical school admissions quota] is responsible for the current impasse.”

The junior doctors’ representative body nailed down its “uncompromising” stance, saying it will stick to the original demand made on Feb. 20 calling for the government to scrap the quota expansion plan and improve their labor conditions.

The group said its members will not return to their hospitals if the government does not accede to their original demand.

“Although the senior officials from the Health Ministry and members of the Cabinet reached out to the KIRA about dialogue multiple times, we did not respond to any such requests,” the group's statement on Thursday said.

It added that the organization’s tactic of “non-engagement with previous requests prompted the head of the government to come to the negotiation table directly.”

After the meeting with Yoon, Park said there is “no future in the Korean medical sector."

The presidential office, for its part, denied that it had hinted at the possibility of downsizing the admissions quota expansion from the current 2,000 seats to 600.

Hospitals suffering from the absence of junior doctors who are protesting the government’s plan to add seats in medical schools are struggling with increasing debt and operational losses.

Asan Medical Center — one of the country’s five largest hospitals — is suffering from a snowballing deficit of around 51 billion won ($37.8 million).

“Of net losses amounting to some 51 billion won, government support only covered some 1.7 billion won,” the head of the hospital, Park Seung-il, said in an email to the doctors on staff on Wednesday.

Chungbuk National University Hospital said it expects to see a 9 billion won decrease in monthly revenue starting this month. The hospital has entered a phase of emergency business management.

The emergency committee of medical professors at Chungbuk National University said the hospital’s outpatient medical appointments will be reduced by 75 percent starting Friday. This measure is intended to guarantee breaks for overburdened professors covering for their protesting junior colleagues, but is expected to result in a slash in revenue.

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