New doctors' group chief demands scrapping of reforms for talks

Social Affairs

Published: 28 Apr. 2024, 17:59 Updated: 28 Apr. 2024, 18:38

New doctors' group chief demands scrapping of reforms for talks

Lim Hyun-taek, president-elect of the Korean Medical Association, holds the group's flag at a general assembly meeting in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on Sunday. [NEWS1]

The new leader of the nation’s largest doctors’ group on Sunday said that medical professionals would take a seat at the bargaining table only after the government scraps its medical reform policies — including the enrollment quota hike in medical schools.

During the Korean Medical Association (KMA)’s regular general assembly held in Seocho District, southern Seoul, Lim Hyun-taek, the group's president-elect, said doctors would respond to the government’s call only when a “clean slate is set" after overturning the administration's current medical reform policies.

Lim also blamed the government for “indifferently pushing its medical reform” when the country’s medical services and infrastructure are being shattered.

He demanded an apology from the government, adding that “its abuse of power resulted in disruptions in health care services.”

On April 19, the government softened its drive for the admissions increase in medical schools by granting partial autonomy to 32 schools that received added seats for the 2025 academic year. However, the gesture failed to win the doctors' cooperation.

A presidential special committee for medical reform was launched last Thursday without the attendance of the KMA and Korean Intern Resident Association, representing junior doctors. The two groups abstained from joining despite the government’s invitations to dialogue.

Lim, voted the 42nd president of the KMA, is likely to spearhead doctors’ protests against the government, given his hard-line stance and fiery rhetoric.

Despite his term officially beginning on Wednesday, May 1, his role was expected to commence starting Sunday, per the disbandment of an emergency steering committee on the same day.

Lim recently denounced the Health Ministry’s action of reviewing whether medical professors’ weekly shutdown violates relevant laws, calling it an act that “criminalizes medical professors.”

The KMA’s committee that helps Lim’s transfer of power said Saturday that it will hold the government accountable if it carries “derogatory expressions and coercive voices targeting medical professors.”

On Friday, the KMA condemned the police's additional search and seizure operation targeting Lim on the same day, calling it “political retaliation.” Lim faces accusations of inciting junior doctors to file resignations and leave hospitals en masse.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Friday's search and seizure were to secure Lim's current phone as the previously obtained device was found to be old.

A doctor talks with a hospital visitor in a general hospital in Daegu on Friday. [YONHAP]

On Sunday, medical professors at Seoul National University and its hospitals said they will hold a symposium on Tuesday to discuss the path forward that the Korean medical sector should pursue with medical students, junior doctors, medical professors and patients.

An official from the committee said the “symposium aims to foster a productive public sphere” to shape enhanced “health care infrastructure that mutually benefits people, government and medics.”

On Tuesday, the hospital’s doctors will take a one-day leave as part of their weekly shutdown.

Other major hospitals are set to shut down weekly starting late April or early May. Medical professors have said the measure is in response to accumulated fatigue from pulling additional shifts since junior doctors left their training hospitals in February.

Professors at Severance Hospital have said they will not come to work on Tuesday, while professors at Asan Medical Center have said they will not work on May 3.

Professors at St. Mary's Hospital, affiliated with the Catholic University of Korea, will take every Sunday off beginning in May.

Meanwhile, the emergency committee of Sungkyunkwan University's School of Medicine advised professors working at Samsung Medical Center and its regional branches to "take one day off per week to relieve pressure from overwork and maintain a 52-hour workweek."

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Friday urged medical school professors not to walk out of hospitals as more faculty members have signaled their intent to resign or walk off the job to support the ongoing strike by trainee doctors.

"I urge all medical professors to continue standing by their patients and to persuade their students to return to work now," Han said during a meeting with officials to address the monthslong standoff between doctors and the government.

The prime minister promised that the government would consider doctors' views more seriously if they returned to hospitals, but did not offer additional concessions.

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