Gov’t says trainees who don’t return may be recruited as military doctors

Social Affairs

Published: 18 Jul. 2024, 17:45

Gov’t says trainees who don’t return may be recruited as military doctors

A notice announcing the recruitment of new residents is seen at a hospital in Seoul Thursday with more than 10,000 out of 13,000 trainee doctors on track to resign. [YONHAP]

The government on Thursday expressed regret that over 10,000 striking trainee doctors are presumed to have resigned from their hospitals, as the deadline for them to return to work passed earlier this week.

Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong said as he presided over a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters that the final number of resident vacancies at training hospitals had been submitted by the previous day and was being compiled and reviewed by the government.

"Unfortunately, it appears that most residents will not return to the medical field," he said.

Despite the government's best efforts to cajole junior doctors to return to the field amid the monthslong medical vacuum, including offers to not suspend medical licenses if they got back to work, trainees have been rebuffing offers of leniency.

Over 90 percent of some 13,000 junior doctors began a walkout in February to protest the government's plan to hike the medical school admissions quota. According to the medical community, training hospitals tried to persuade junior doctors to return by the final deadline to confirm vacant spots earlier this week, but as most of them expressed no intention to return, more than 10,000 junior doctors are set to resign.

The Health Ministry had informed hospitals to complete accepting their resignations by Monday and offered special considerations for returning trainees.

Cho said Thursday that after confirming vacant spots, the government will begin recruiting trainee doctors for the second half of this year and said junior doctors applying will get an opportunity to earn specialist licenses.

The government again urged the medical community to engage in dialogue through a special committee for medical reform.

"Of seven major demands being made by trainee doctors, the government can negotiate on anything except the cancellation of the medical school expansion and the complete abolition of orders to return to duties," Kim Guk-il, a senior health policy official at the ministry, said in a briefing.

The ministry said trainee doctors returning through September may be eligible to apply for special provisions to delay military enlistment after consultation with the Ministry of National Defense and the Military Manpower Administration.

It said residents who do not return must enlist as they are registered as military doctor candidates.

All able-bodied men must serve mandatory military service for at least 18 months. Women can volunteer for military duty as officers or non-commissioned officers.

Kim said some 700 to 800 military doctors are fielded each year, but since not all returning medical residents can go to the military next year at the same time, there may be cases where they have to wait for more than a year.

The ministry also said on Thursday it referred 18 doctors and medical students to prosecutors for a probe into their alleged involvement in drawing up or disseminating a list doxxing junior doctors who returned to their hospitals.

Earlier this month, a list of medical students and fellows who allegedly returned to work or resumed studies, which reportedly included personal information, was circulated through social media, and police opened an investigation.

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