South Korea orders doctors who joined protracted strike over medical school plan to return to work
South Korean officials issued return-to-work orders for doctors participating in a one-day walkout as part of a protracted strike against a government plan to sharply boost medical school admissions
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials issued return-to-work orders for doctors participating in a one-day walkout Tuesday as part of a protracted strike against the government's plan to sharply boost medical school admissions.
Since February, more than 12,000 trainee doctors have been on strike in a deepening standoff with government officials, who want to grow the country’s number of doctors by up to 10,000 by 2035. Many reject the plan, set to begin next year, saying schools won’t be able to handle the increased flow and that the quality of the country’s medical services would suffer.
About 4% of the country’s 36,000 private medical facilities, categorized as clinics, have told authorities they would participate in a one-day strike on Tuesday, according to South Korea’s Health and Welfare Ministry.
This came a day after hundreds of medical school professors at four major hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University entered an indefinite walkout, raising concerns about disruptions in medical services.
There’s also a possibility that the strike could expand.
At a rally with thousands of doctors in Seoul on Tuesday, Lim Hyun-taek, the hard-line leader of the Korean Medical Association, said he would push for its members to enter an indefinite strike on June 27 if the government rejects its demands to completely scrap plans to increase medical school admissions. KMA is the country’s largest doctors’ lobby with more than 100,000 members.
South Korean Deputy Health Minister Jun Byung-wang said the one-day strike by
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