KMA announces large-scale strike over medical reforms to take place on June 18

Lim Hyun-taek, head the Korean Medical Association, speaks at a press conference held in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Sunday. [YONHAP]

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) announced Sunday it will stage a general strike on June 18 to protest government reforms.

This will mark the first time that the KMA, the country's largest doctors' lobby group representing some 140,000 doctors, will be taking widespread collective action amid the ongoing junior doctors' walkout in protest of the government's move to hike medical school admissions quotas.

The KMA on Sunday revealed the results of a vote taken in the past week, from Tuesday to Friday, which showed that 90.6 percent of respondents supported a "strong protest" by the doctors' group.

In the online survey, 70,800 out of 111,861 doctors voted, and 52,015 people, or 73.5 percent, of respondents, said they would participate in collective action if asked.

"We will hold a general strike on June 18, with the participation of the entire nation, including 140,000 doctors, as well as medical students and parents," Lim Hyun-taek, head of the KMA, said Sunday. "We will declare the current medical abuse as an emergency for the entire medical community and wage a strong fight against the government."

He said this would be a "starting point" in the doctors' protests and called to form a special committee to fight for the medical community's cause.

Last month, the government finalized an increase of 1,500 in medical school admissions spots, the first such hike in 27 years. Since late February, thousands of trainee doctors have been protesting the government's decision, staging a walkout that has strained major hospitals' emergency rooms and nonessential medical services.

The June 18 strike date is a day after medical professors from Seoul National University's (SNUH) four hospitals said they would stage a walkout. Last Thursday, SNUH's medical professors said they would indefinitely suspend medical services from June 17, making an exception for emergency room patients and intensive care units. This has put a damper on the government's medical school reform plans.

Early on Sunday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said any collective action by the doctors was an "illegal act" that puts lives at risk. He expressed "deep regret," calling on doctors to return to dialogue.

"The social trust built between the medical community and patients over decades should not be destroyed in an instant due to the strong claims of a few people," Han said during a press briefing.

Han then assured that junior doctors who return to hospitals will not have to face any worries about any disadvantages or administrative measures.

However, less than 10 percent of doctors at private clinics joined the KMA's previous general strike in 2020, leading to cautious analysis that the impact of such collective action could be less serious than expected.

Civic groups, including those representing patients, called on the KMA to withdraw its decision on the same day.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]