Live from Severance Hospital: Trainee doctors' mass resignations against gov't med school quota plan

'빅5' 전공의 오늘 집단사직에 환자들 우려

Good evening. Thank you for joining us. I'm Yoon Jung-min.
We start with concerns growing over a medical crisis.
Interns and residents at the nation's big hospitals tender their resignations and are set to leave their workplaces en masse starting tomorrow.
In fact, some have already done so.
Our correspondent Choi Soo-hyung is at one of the hospitals where action by doctors is taking place.
Soo-hyung, how is the situation there?


Good evening, Jung-min.
The collective action by doctors, including resignations by residents, has potentially begun in earnest, and concerns about a "medical crisis" are growing stronger.
I am now in front of the Severance Hospital, located in Sinchon-dong, Seoul, where some pediatric residents have opted to stop working, starting today, to protest the government's plan to expand medical school quotas.

In the Severance Hospital, surgery schedules have already been adjusted, and the authorities here say the medical chaos that everyone worries about has not happened yet.
This is, in part, due to emergency response systems after the doctors' action such as reducing the operation of surgical rooms to 50 to 60 percent of normal capacity.
This is one of the major teaching hospitals in the country, part of the so-called "Big 5," along with Seoul National University and the Catholic University of Korea Seoul St. Mary's hospitals, and Seoul Asan and Samsung medical centers.
Last week, the Korean Intern Resident Association announced that all residents at these hospitals and others nationwide were scheduled to submit their resignations by Monday and will cease working after 6 AM on Tuesday.
As of last Friday, 715 residents at 23 hospitals from across the country had submitted their resignations.
However, none have been officially accepted, so far.

The number of trainee doctors at the Big 5 is around 2-thousand-700, or over 20 percent of the total in Korea.
They play a crucial role in emergency medical care, and should they proceed with their collective resignations, this will inevitably lead to significant gaps in patient care.

What do the authorities have to say about this?

Currently, there is no change in the government's stance, in its refusal to accept doctors' demands and calling their collective action intolerable.
The health ministry has warned that it could revoke doctors' licenses, if they do not comply with return-to-work orders.

The government has issued the order to 103 doctors who have refused to work, with three of them failing to comply.
Also, all efforts will be made to minimize inconvenience for patients.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo visited the National Medical Center today at around 3PM.inspecting on-site countermeasures.
Han also held a meeting this Morning, to come up with measures to combat any collective action, including expanding telemedicine services.

"To ensure patients face no difficulties in accessing medical facilities, we will fully allow non-contact medical consultations in case doctors walk off their jobs."

In addition, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is running emergency rooms at four municipal hospitals --Seoul and Boramae medical centers, and Dongbu and Seonam hospitals --while extending the operating hours of public health centers in 25 districts until 8PM on weekdays.
That's all I have for now.

Back to you, Jung-min.

That was our Choi Soo-hyung from Severance Hospital.

#Medical_school #Medical_school_enrollment_quota #Hospital #Trainee_doctor #Resignation #의대_정원 #병원 #전공의 #집단_사직 #Arirang_News #아리랑뉴스

📣 Facebook :   / arirangtvnews  
📣 Twitter :   / arirangtvnews  
📣 Homepage : https://v2.arirang.com/

2024-02-19, 18:00 (KST)