SEOUL
\nSouth Korea said Thursday it was seeking its first talks with striking junior doctors, warning them to return to hospitals ahead of a looming deadline or risk legal action over work stoppages that have plunged hospitals into chaos.
\nNearly 10,000 junior doctors \u2014 about 80 percent of the trainee workforce \u2014 handed in their notice and walked off the job last week to protest government plans to sharply increase medical school admissions to cope with shortages and an aging society.
\nDoctors say the plan would hurt the quality of service, and the Korean Medical Association (KMA) has slammed the government\u2019s \u201cintimidation tactics.\u201d
\nUnder South Korean law, doctors are prohibited from striking, and the government has threatened to arrest and suspend the medical licenses of medics who do not return to work by Thursday.
\nSecond Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said he had contacted doctors involved in the strike seeking talks and hoped to meet them later Thursday, adding he was unsure \u201chow many people will attend.\u201d
\nDoctors had begun trickling back to work in hospitals, Park said. \u201cWe have confirmed a downgrade in the walkouts for two days in a row,\u201d he told a press briefing.
\nBut Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong told local media on Thursday that \u201ca full-scale return has not yet materialized.\u201d
\n\u201cAs today is the last day (to) return, I implore them to do so for the patients,\u201d he said, adding medics who returned to work before the deadline expired would not be punished.
\nCho said the government was committed to its reform plan, which would increase medical school admissions by 65 percent, citing shortages of health professionals and a looming demographic crisis.
\nThe KMA has not commented on possible talks, but a social media account run by young doctors shared a screenshot of a text message from the government and said: \u201cYou must be joking.\u201d
\nAnalysts say the government\u2019s hard-line stance may play well for them ahead of legislative elections set for April 10.
\n\u201cIf the government were to back down now, they would perceive it as a major setback ahead of the upcoming general elections,\u201d Kim Jae-heon, the secretary general of an NGO advocating free medical care, said.
\nBut doctors \u201cbelieve that stepping back at this point would result in their own disadvantage. It seems the current standoff will continue for a while.\u201d
\nProponents of the reform say doctors are mainly concerned the changes could erode their salaries and social status. The government says South Korea has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios among developed countries.
\nPolling shows up to 75 percent of the public support the reforms, and President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has taken a hard line on the striking doctors, has seen his approval ratings tick up.
\nKim Sung-ju, head of the Korean Cancer Patients Rights Council, said that patients\u2019 lives were being held \u201chostage.\u201d
\n\u201cIf the entire system comes to a halt simply because (junior doctors) have left, it truly highlights the shortage of doctors,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt is astonishing that they are… using patients\u2019 lives as leverage to further their own interests.\u201d
\nThe mass work stoppage has resulted in cancelations and postponements of surgeries for cancer patients and C-sections for pregnant women, with the government raising its public health alert to the highest level.
\nKim Tae-hyeon, the head of the Korean ALS Association, said the striking doctors were \u201cworse than organized criminals.\u201d
\n\u201cIn hospice wards and intensive care units, (patients) are struggling to stay alive,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SEOUL South Korea said Thursday it was seeking its first talks with striking junior doctors, warning them to return to hospitals ahead of a looming deadline or risk legal action over work stoppages that have plunged hospitals into chaos. Nearly 10,000 junior doctors \u2014 about 80 percent of the trainee workforce \u2014 handed in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390665,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-390645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n