South Korean medical crisis following mass resignation of doctors

Patients awaiting urgent surgeries or treatment for serious illnesses at public hospitals across South Korea are increasingly worried about the catastrophic consequences of the mass resignation of trainee doctors, according to Yonhap news agency. are.

Training doctors are furious with the South Korean government’s planned increase in the admissions capacity of medical universities. Signs of a serious medical crisis are already evident as cancellations or postponements of cancer surgeries as well as births have been reported in major hospitals in Seoul and major South Korean cities.

In addition to the crisis in medical services, interns and resident doctors at the country’s five major hospitals in Seoul have agreed not to show up at work from Tuesday morning. 30 to 40 percent of the medical staff of public hospitals are trainee doctors.

According to officials of the South Korean Health and Medical Workers Union, in such a situation, some hospitals asked nurses to take on tasks such as taking blood samples and verifying patients’ signatures on surgical consent forms, which were previously done by trainee doctors.

South Korean doctors have warned against massive strikes and other reactions due to opposition to the government’s decision to increase the admission capacity by 2,000 people next year. This is a sharp increase compared to the current capacity of three thousand and 58 people.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Deok-soo pointed out that this capacity has not been increased for 27 years and said: Considering the time needed to train medical professionals, we can no longer delay this action [increasing the capacity to accept medical students]. let’s throw Not only the patients, but also the doctors are getting old and their age is increasing.

Source: IRNA