Senior doctors at major hospitals in South Korea began submitting their resignations en masse Monday in support of medical interns and residents who have been on a strike for five weeks over the government’s push to sharply increase medical school admissions.
The senior doctors’ action won’t likely cause an immediate worsening of hospital operations in South Korea because they have said they would continue to work even after submitting their resignations. But prospects for an early end to the medical impasse were also dim, as the doctors’ planned action comes after President Yoon Suk Yeol called for talks with doctors while suggesting a possible softening of punitive steps against the striking junior doctors.
About 12,000 interns and medical residents have faced impending suspensions of their licenses over their refusal to end their strikes, which have caused hundreds of cancelled surgeries and other treatments at their hospitals.
They oppose the government’s plan to increase the country’s medical school admission cap by two-thirds, saying schools can’t handle such a steep increase in students and that it would eventually hurt South Korea’s medical services. But officials say more doctors are urgently needed because South Korea has a rapidly aging population and its doctor-to-population ratio is one of the lowest in the developed world.
this is a valid point, but it’s not a point i see junior doctors striking for. it’s not like the quality of education that a country offers after they’ve graduated would weigh so heavily on their minds.
occam’s razor applies here. they are worried that there will suddenly be an influx of new doctors that will reduce their own earning capacity.
your point on expanding facilities first won’t help end the strike since it doesn’t address the core problem. the government should simply look to sneakily boil the frog here (and this is only because being the last in a list of doctor:patient ratio is never a good thing).