Seoul

Regret was expressed by South Korea’s health ministry on Wednesday concerning the decision made by medical professors to take a weekly day off starting next week. The ministry urged them to engage in dialogue instead of resorting to collective action amidst the prolonged medical vacuum in the country. An emergency committee of medical professors had declared on the previous day that they would have a day off next week, citing extreme fatigue due to the prolonged walkout by trainee doctors. About 12,000 trainee doctors have ceased work since February 20 in protest of the government’s plan to increase the number of medical students. This has led to major hospitals delaying or canceling surgeries and other public health services. In support of the junior doctors’ walkout, medical professors had submitted their resignations last month. Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo informed reporters of the government’s regret over the professors’ decision and reiterated the call for rational and unified dialogue. The government has made efforts to address the situation, including accommodating requests from national university heads for flexibility in expanding medical school enrollment quotas. Last week, a compromise decision was announced, permitting universities to freely increase their admission quotas, with the annual increase ranging between 50 per cent and 100 per cent.