Patients' groups to hold mass rally Thursday to protest doctors' strikes

An ambulance is parked in front of the emergency room at Asan Medical Center in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on Wednesday. Asan’s medical professors announced that surgeries and outpatient treatments will be reduced starting Thursday. [YONHAP]

Patients' groups announced they would take to the streets for a mass rally in downtown Seoul on Thursday, appealing to the general public to participate in a protest prompted by mounting frustrations over a prolonged walkout by doctors.

A group of 92 patients' organizations said Wednesday they would participate in the large-scale picketing in front of the Bosingak, a bell pavilion in Jongno District. They invited anyone who sympathized with their cause to join them in condemning the medical vacuum resulting from the doctors' groups' ongoing strike.

"It is important that the general public, along with patients and their caregivers, participate in the rally to make their voices heard," the Korea Alliance of Patients Organization and related groups said in a statement.

These groups, including the Union of Korea Breast Cancer Patient and Korean Organization for Rare Diseases, said they would hold a press conference Thursday demanding an end to the collective action by doctors and the enactment of a law to prevent a recurrence.

They reported to police that some 1,000 people were expected to participate in Thursday's strike, beginning at 10:30 a.m. near Jonggak Station. This would make it the largest patients' group rally to date.

It is rare for patients' groups to hold street rallies, considering they are primarily comprised of people facing illnesses or physical challenges and their caregivers.

On Feb. 19, trainee doctors began a walkout in protest of the government's plans to increase Korea's medical school admissions quota next year by 2,000 seats. The government later finalized plans to hike the med school quota by around 1,500 seats. Such collective action has spread to some senior doctors at major hospitals.

The patients' groups said that while Seoul National University's four affiliated hospitals suspended their indefinite strike on June 24, as did hospitals linked with the Catholic University of Korea and Sungkyunkwan University, other major hospitals are going forward with their plans.

This includes hospitals affiliated with Yonsei University — Severance Hospital, Gangnam Severance Hospital and Yongin Severance Hospital — which began indefinite strikes on June 27, suspending outpatient treatments and nonemergency surgeries.

The patients' groups shared online posters with messages calling for patients and their families to band together, noting that Thursday marks 136 days since junior doctors began their walkout.

This included one poster stating, "Any citizen upset by the doctors' collective action is welcome!"

Likewise, medical professors at Asan Medical Center said Wednesday they will reduce non-essential treatments and surgeries starting Thursday.

Asan is one of the so-called big five hospitals in Seoul, and its professors estimate that the number of surgeries will decrease by 49 percent and outpatient treatments by 30.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

They urged patients to seek treatment at local clinics and primary care hospitals instead.

An emergency committee of medical professors at the University of Ulsan, affiliated with the Asan Medical Center, said on Wednesday it will take "intensive measures to ensure that there is no disruption in the treatment of critical illnesses and emergency care."

However, it added that "signs of medical collapse are appearing everywhere."

It then called on the government to take measures to guarantee trainee doctors' "legitimate rights and restore their trust."

The committee said that it would be "rescheduling" surgeries.

Medical professors at Korea University also announced earlier this week plans to begin a walkout starting July 12, leaving open the operation of emergency rooms and intensive care units (ICU).

Similarly, Chungbuk National University's medical professors decided to start an indefinite strike on July 26.

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