Junior doctors report health minister to CIO for power abuse

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Junior doctors report health minister to CIO for power abuse

Published: 15 Apr. 2024, 18:57 Updated: 15 Apr. 2024, 19:00

LEE SOO-JUNG
lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr

Dozens of junior doctors participate in a press conference addressing a power abuse complaint against Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo on Monday at the Korean Medical Association's headquarters in central Seoul. [NEWS1]

A group of 1,362 junior doctors on Monday collectively filed a complaint against Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo on an allegation of power abuse to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO).

The junior doctors said that they were "stipulated to work against their will" by the government's back-to-work order and that the government also hindered the due processing of their tendered resignations, during a press conference on the same day at the Korean Medical Association's headquarters in Yongsan, central Seoul.

Some 20 striking junior doctors appeared at the press conference in dark and black-colored suits to convey a message that the "Korean medical sector is now dead.”

More than 11,000 junior doctors have staged a walkout since late February to protest against the government's plan to add medical school admission seats. As the walkout made hospitals short-staffed and crippled health care services nationwide, the government issued back-to-work order.

Medical professionals who object the government's plan to expand medical admission seats continue to maintain a hardline stance even after the April 10 general election where the government-aligned People Power Party lost parliamentary control to the opposing Democratic Party.

“The government impeded on junior doctors' rights to refuse compulsory labor, serve in nonspecialized medical sectors as licensed medical professionals without specialization and resign — all of which are prescribed by the constitution,” said Chung Keun-young, a junior doctor representative at CHA University Bundang Medical Center.

Park, the second vice health minister, was one of the public officials who frequently appeared in daily briefings and delivered the government’s warning to suspend junior doctors’ licenses.

According to Chung, Park “arbitrarily” overissued warnings and orders against junior doctors in order to railroad the government’s medical reform policy, which includes an admission seat hike in medical schools, by "flouting the law."

Junior doctors claimed that “Park constantly mortified them with sharp words [which were publicly aired],” adding that Park never hesitated to exploit the rights of young doctors.

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo speaks during a briefing after the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting on April 8 at at the Sejong government complex in Sejong. [NEWS1]

They demanded the government sack Park, who “fouled constitutional order by ignoring the civic rights of young doctors.” They also noted that they would not return unless the government dismissed Park.

They said that their decision to report Park to the CIO is “irrelevant” to the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), a representative body of junior doctors. They explained that the 1,362 junior doctors only recently joined forces to file a complaint against Park.

Later on Monday, the Health Ministry expressed its concerns over the junior doctors' collective action, calling it “inappropriate and undesirable to link a certain public official’s future with junior doctors’ return to hospitals.”

The ministry noted that the health minister "supervises the medical reform, including the medical school admission hike, in accordance with the [governing] law.”

Earlier the same day, the government hosted its first publicly-shared Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters meeting since the April 10 general election. The meetings were conducted closed-door during the election period.

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