(ATTN: ADDS more reactions in paras 11-12, 20-23)
SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) — The government said Saturday that the medical community should draw up its plan for proposed talks over an increase in the medical school admissions quota amid prolonged strikes by junior doctors.
On Friday, the presidential office said it is open to readjusting the country’s quota for 2026 and would welcome it if a negotiating panel is formed among the rival parties, the government and the medical community to discuss the issue.
The ruling People Power Party proposed launching a four-way dialogue to resolve the medical quota issue. The main opposition Democratic Party welcomed the proposal.
The series of developments raises hopes for a breakthrough in the prolonged walkout by thousands of junior doctors protesting the government’s decision in February to increase the admissions quota by 2,000 from the previous 3,058 and keep the increased quota over the next five years.
The drawn-out walkout has led to disruptions in hospital services across the nation, especially emergency room operations, but the Yoon Suk Yeol government has been firmly sticking to the 2,000-seat increase.
“We can’t sit down for talks if the medical community does not come up with its own plan,” the Office for Government Policy Coordination said in a statement.
The office stated the medical community’s plans should be based on scientific analysis.
“If their proposal is scientific and reasonable, the government is ready to discuss the issue flexibly,” it said.
But junior doctors and medical school students are unlikely to return unless the government changes its decision about the 2025 quota.
Doctors claim that medical schools will not be able to handle the increased enrollment, which will compromise the quality of medical education and ultimately the country’s medical services.
After the government made a plan from the medical community a precondition for talks, the Korean Medical Association (KMA) shot back, “What is the basis of that stance?”
The KMA, though, did not make further comment on the proposal for dialogue, and it was in contrast with reactions from regional doctors’ groups earlier Saturday.
Gyeonggido Medical Association, representing doctors in Gyeonggi Province, released a statement saying Yoon has to show he is serious about the proposed dialogue by apologizing to the medical community for increasing the quota in the first place.
The association also called on Yoon to dismiss three government figures for taking verbal shots at doctors: Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong, Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo and Jang Sang-yoon, senior presidential secretary for social policy.
“This latest proposal is a cheap trick that attempts to distort the essence, which is that the drive to increase the quota for 2025 must be halted,” the Gyeonggi association said. “If they are serious about this, they must immediately stop their plan for the increase, which caused this health care crisis.”
Seoul Medical Association also demanded the government show a change of its stance first before a four-way dialogue can materialize.
“Any dialogue without a review of the plan for the 2025 quota increase will be meaningless,” it said.
The Seoul body also said the health ministry should apologize for unilaterally pushing for the quota change and thus violating terms of a 2020 agreement between the government and the medical community
Individual doctors took to social media to make similar points. Park Hyoung-uk, vice chair of the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, said Yoon must show he has changed by firing Jang, the social policy secretary.
In response to the KMA’s succinct statement, Gyeonggido Medical Association questioned the leadership of the KMA chief, Lim Hyun-taek.
“We fully agree with and support viewpoints expressed by medical students and trainee doctors that problems will not be resolved unless Lim, who has been so incompetent, immediately resigns,” the association said.
Last Saturday, the KMA held a general meeting to discuss a proposal to replace Lim’s leadership group with an emergency management committee, but the idea was voted down.
“We have this one-line statement today, and the KMA is not doing any proper, timely work,” one official from the Gyeonggi association told Yonhap News Agency. “If they can’t handle things, they should hand the reins over to someone else, but they haven’t done that, either. To resolve the situation, the KMA leaders have to step down or have to make a decision that can earn them the trust of trainee doctors.”
A doctor’s gown and books for the national exam for the doctor’s license are on a desk inside a lecture room at a medical school in the southeastern city of Daegu on Sept. 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
sam@yna.co.kr
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