Tag: South Korea

The strike by trainee doctors on the behest of Korean doctors trying to protect the scarcity of doctors in the ROK has now led to the suspension of thousands of medical licenses. To really end this strike the government needs to find a way to protect the trainee doctors from retaliation from their doctor supervisors if they return to their hospitals:

The health ministry said Monday it had sent prior notices of license suspension to some 5,000 trainee doctors who have defied an order to return to work, in protest of a plan to boost the number of medical students. 

Deputy Health Minister Jun Byung-wang told reporters that it completed sending the notices to 4,944 junior doctors last week. When receiving the notices, the doctors will be required to submit their opinions on punitive measures by March 25. 

With the government vowing to take legal action against junior doctors making threats to their colleagues, or impeding their return to hospitals, the ministry opened a hotline to protect physicians wishing to return, Jun said. 

“The government will spare no efforts to help trainee doctors wishing to return to hospitals,” Jun said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is an example of leftists defending leftists using these so called research groups. This group in Sweden claims autocracy is returning to Korea though Yoon replaced the left wing Moon administration that sent two prior conservative Presidents and numerous journalists to jail. I guess in the leftist world view sending political rivals and journalists to jail is a sign of democracy. Will this group upgrade South Korea’s democracy ranking if Yoon follows the lead of the leftists and sends his political rivals and journalists to jail?:

Korea has experienced a “downward slope” in its democratic process since President Yoon Suk Yeol took office, according to a Sweden-based political science research institute. The regression is attributed to the government’s measures to penalize figures associated with the previous administration, its assaults on gender equality, and its undermining of freedom of expression.

The Democracy Report 2024 released Thursday by the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at the University of Gothenburg stated that Korea scored 0.6 on the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) and ranked 47th among 179 countries in the world for its level of democracy.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

So even the Korean medical professors are joining in on the effort to keep the number of doctors in Korea artificially low. These creates a scarcity of the service they provide thus driving higher prices:

Some medical school professors shaved their heads or tendered resignations on Tuesday in protest over the government’s plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota, as the strike by about 9,000 trainee doctors entered its third week and the health ministry threatened to take disciplinary action against those defying a return-to-work order.

As 40 medical schools nationwide applied for a combined 3,401 additional admission seats by the Monday deadline in response to the government’s plan to hike the enrollment quota by 2,000 beginning next year, medical professors further stepped up their protests.

About 10 professors of Kangwon National University’s medical school in Chuncheon, 76 kilometers east of Seoul, held a hair-shaving ceremony Tuesday morning, expressing their opposition to the university’s application for an additional enrollment quota.

“Though many professors expressed their opposition to an increase in new admissions, the university made the opposite decision,” said Ryu Se-min, head of Kangwon National University’s medical school.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is pretty troubling that so many fewer Koreans are deciding to get married:

The number of marriages in South Korea plummeted 40 percent over the past 10 years, leading to a decrease in the country’s birthrate, government data showed Sunday. 

A total of 193,673 marriages were reported last year, sharply down from 322,807 cases in 2013, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The 2023 tally was slightly higher than the 191,690 marriages reported in 2022, but the yearly tally decreased for 11 consecutive years from 2012 to 2022.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Some professions like the military, police, and fire departments should not be allowed to protest because of the important public servant roles they play. It seems doctors should be part of that group. How many people will have negative health outcomes from all the cancelled appointments from these doctors striking to stop an increase medical providers to rural areas?:

Tens of thousands of doctors held a rally in western Seoul on Sunday to protest the government’s medical school quota hike plan as Prime Minister Han Duck-soo hinted at the possible suspension of medical licenses for striking trainee doctors.

The rally by member doctors of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), the biggest medical lobby group, came as thousands of trainee doctors have remained off their jobs at general hospitals for the 13th day, protesting the plan to add 2,000 more medical school seats starting next year. 

Crowds of doctors filled up a street in Seoul’s western district of Yeouido, waving protesting flags and holding up signs reading “Absolute opposition to a medical school quota hike without agreement from medical fields,” or “Unprepared medical school quota hike compromises medical education.”

Yonhap

Look at the shady tactics these doctors are using to increase their protest numbers:

The presidential office also vowed to respond with “zero tolerance” after allegations emerged online that some doctors were trying to forcibly mobilize drug salesmen for their rally protesting the government’s medical school quota hike plan.

Ahead of Sunday’s rally, several postings appeared on online communities, claiming that some doctors were forcing salesmen of pharmaceutical companies to join the gathering. 

Salesmen of pharmaceutical companies are often under the sway of doctors who have the authority to prescribe or change certain drugs. A posting said, “I am being forcibly mobilized because a doctor I trade with said he will change drugs if I do not show up.”

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Does the government have the will to suspend or fire all these doctors? Pretty clearly the medical community does not think so.

It will be interesting to see how many of these refugee from Russia that South Korea ends up accepting:

A record number of Russians are seeking asylum in South Korea, according to South Korean authorities, with applications surging fivefold last year as Russians became the largest group seeking refuge in the East Asian country.

A total of 5,750 Russian nationals sought asylum in South Korea in 2023, according to a report released earlier this month by the Korean Immigration Service. That’s five times higher than the 1,038 who sought protection in 2022 – and more than the total number of asylum applications from Russians recorded between 1994 and 2019.

Last year also marked the highest number of overall asylum applications for at least the past eight years, according to the Immigration Service. After Russians, the largest groups of asylum seekers came from Kazakhstan, China and Malaysia.

The government should threaten to suspend their licenses for far longer than three months. How about a 5-10 years; that would probably get them back into the hospital:

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min speaks during a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters at the government complex in Seoul on Feb. 26, 2024.

The government issued an ultimatum on Monday to trainee doctors who stopped work for a seventh day to protest against the government’s plan to boost medical students, warning that it could begin suspending the licenses of trainee doctors next month unless they return to work soon.

Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that trainee doctors who refused to return to work by Thursday could start facing punishment the following day amid deepening concerns over public health as doctors and the government were on a collision course over the plan to raise the medical school admission quota by 2,000 seats next year.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The government should really revoke medical licenses from anyone participating in this strike that is adversely impacting so many patients:

To cope with a potential disruption of medical services, the government will extend operating hours at 97 public hospitals and emergency rooms at 12 military hospitals will be opened to the public, Park said.

“We are deeply disappointed and concerned that the collective action by trainee doctors has led to a disruption in medical services, such as the cancellation of surgeries,” Park said. 

“We cannot give justification to the actions of the doctors leaving their patients behind to protest a policy despite knowing what the collective action could result in,” Park added. 

“The government will put in utmost efforts to operate an emergency medical system to minimize possible damage to the patients.”

The government says the increase in the admission quota is needed to address a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine.

The number of doctors in South Korea relative to the size of the population is among the lowest in the developed world, according to health authorities.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.