The South Korean Government promises to actively dialogue with the medical community in response to the strike

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, has promised to actively dialogue with the medical community with the aim of reaching a negotiated agreement in the face of the prolonged strike by trainee doctors. The protest is due to the Government’s decision to significantly increase the admission quota in medical schools.

Han made the comments during a meeting, held at Seoul National University Hospital in the South Korean capital, with representatives of the medical community, including the chancellors of the country’s top universities and leading training hospitals.

“The Government is committed to actively dialogue and strive to work together regarding medical reform,” the prime minister said at the beginning of the meeting. «I hope that this meeting will lead to the establishment of a dialog engine«he added.

The meeting took place while medical professors at major general hospitals, nationwide, They will begin to submit resignations en massein support of interns and residents who have been on strike for more than a month.

Senior doctors have asked the government to first scrap the decision to increase the quota in medical colleges by 2,000 seats from the current 3,058, maintaining that they will sit down for talks only if the plan is abolished.

More than 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors face potential suspensions of their licenses due to their refusal to end their strike. Because doctors refuse to return to their jobs, a large number of surgeries and treatments in hospitals have had to be canceled, among other measures.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hinted at a possible relaxation of punitive measures against the striking doctors, changing their previously firm stance.

According to Han, many people and patients are worried due to various pending issues lately in the medical community, and they want to form a channel of constructive dialogue and try to empathize and understand each other.