SNU medical professors to end walkout at 4 hospitals

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SNU medical professors to end walkout at 4 hospitals

Published: 21 Jun. 2024, 15:17 Updated: 21 Jun. 2024, 15:18

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

Medical professors at Seoul National University Hospital walk inside a hospital in downtown Seoul after finishing their professorial assembly on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Medical professors working at hospitals of Seoul National University (SNU) decided on Friday to halt their indefinite strike and return to their patients.

An emergency response committee representing medical professors from the university’s College of Medicine and SNU’s four affiliated hospitals said its faculty voted to return to their posts and resume their duties of treating patients.

Medical services at SNU’s main Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) in Jongno District, central Seoul, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center in Dongjak District, eastern Seoul, SNUH Gangnam Center in Gangnam District, southern Seoul and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital in Gyeonggi will be provided as usual starting next week.

Of the 948 faculty that participated in the decision, 698, or 73.6 percent answered to change their modes of protest to “sustainable forms of resistance” and discontinue their walkout. Some 192, or 20.3 percent, chose to continue the strike.

Specifically, 75.4 percent of answered professors said they should “oversee, criticize the policymaking process and suggest alternatives” to health policies. About 65.6 percent of the voting participants also responded that SNU’s medical professors should adjust work hours to a "sustainable level," considering the safety of health care staff and patients.

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