South Korea Doctors Walk Off Job Over Medical School Slots

Jenny Lee, Shinhye Kang and Sam Kim
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- More than 1,600 South Korean trainee doctors walked off the job Tuesday to protest a government plan to drastically increase spots at medical schools aimed to reversing a shortage of physicians.

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About 6,415 trainee doctors at around 100 hospitals have submitted resignation letters, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, and it has ordered more than 700 trainee doctors to return to work. The walkout has caused some hospitals to delay or postpone surgeries, but there have been no reports of major disruptions to the health care system, officials have said.

There are around 13,000 trainee doctors in the country, according to the ministry, which said the resignation letters have not been accepted. The labor action caused at least 25 surgery cancellations and led to about three dozens complaints, the ministry said.

President Yoon Suk Yeol called on the doctors to halt their labor stoppage, saying their plans to stay off the job could have major ramifications.

“Doctors, who are the main players in the medical field, and medical students, who are the main players in the future of medicine, should not take collective action that takes the lives and health of people as hostages,” Yoon said at a cabinet meeting.

Yoon’s government plans to increase the number of slots at medical schools from next year by 2,000 from the current 3,058 to alleviate a shortage of doctors, which ranks among the worst among developed countries. It says the move will add medical professionals to more parts of the country and in more fields, which will be needed as the country is facing a demographic crisis with one of the world’s fastest aging populations.

Polling shows that about 75% of the public supports the move that could help reduce waiting times and increase access to health care. South Korean doctors also rank as some of the best paid in the world and could see their earning power drop if there are more doctors to see patients.

“Doctors are afraid their worth is going to go down,” said Jeong Hyoung-Sun, a professor in the Division of Health Administration at Yonsei University. “That’s what it eventually comes down to.”

Jeong said doctors may have been emboldened after launching a labor action in 2020 over plans during the pandemic to increase the number of seats in medical schools, but this time around they face the threat of losing medical licenses if patients die because of a lack of medical care.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries showed the annual average gross income of self-employed specialists was 6.8 times more than that of the average worker in South Korea as of 2021, which is widest gap among OECD member countries.

The doctors said the move to increase spots at medical schools would not address fundamental problems such as difficult working conditions, a lack of specialists in fields seen as lower paying and a concentration of doctors in urban areas.

The biggest group of trainee doctors are some 2,700 at five major general hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital, who previously said they planned to walk off the job Tuesday. They play key roles in emergency care and represent about a fifth of all the trainee doctors in the country.

The government has called on the trainee doctors to report to work and has a powerful weapon in the fight, because it could use the Medical Services Act to revoke the licenses of doctors over prolonged labor actions that threaten the health-care system.

Yoon’s administration has opened emergency rooms at 12 military hospitals nationwide to the public in response to the labor action and implemented telemedicine plans across the country.

The government is also looking at revoking the medical license of two members of the Korean Medical Association, which represents about 13,000 doctors, on suspicion of leading the collective action, Yonhap said.

Yoon, who has been driving the plan to increase the number of doctors, has seen a boost in his support rate. This could help his conservative People Power Party as it tries to take control of parliament in April elections.

--With assistance from Brian Fowler.

(Updates with comments from president and analyst, adds details on military hospitals.)

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