South Korea’s main doctors’ organization calls for national strike on June 18

June 9 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The main organization of doctors in South Korea, the Korea Medical Association (KMA), announced this Sunday the call for a national strike for June 18 in what is the first collective action since the outbreak four months ago. of the health crisis in the country due to a controversial reform.

More than 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 resident doctors have resigned their positions in protest against the Government’s plan to increase the number of medical training places from the current 3,000 to 5,000 for the next academic year.

Doctors allege that the proposal represents an unsustainable burden given that universities, which do not have the capacity to assume an increase that, in their opinion, does not solve the lack of incentives for the lowest paid specialties, such as pediatrics, or to cover places in more remote destinations. Additionally, they argue that authorities should focus on protecting them from malpractice lawsuits.

The director of the association, Lim Hyun Taek, assured in a press conference that the strike has the support of more than 90 percent of its members (about 64,000 doctors), according to the results of the vote held from Tuesday to Friday of last week.

“We intend to form a committee dedicated to the protest of the medical community and use all possible methods to launch a comprehensive resistance,” he warned in statements reported by the official South Korean news agency Yonhap.

“I want to end by warning the Government to stop the tyrannical policy it has exhibited during these last four months and ask for forgiveness from the people,” Lim added in an appearance just 24 hours after South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck Soo promised that Residents who decided to return to work now would not face any penalties.