South Korea trainee doctors stage walkout
More than 1,600 trainee doctors in South Korea's major hospitals staged a walkout on Tuesday to protest against a government plan to admit more students to medical schools, stoking fears of delays to surgical operations and patient treatment. - REUTERS
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00:00 More than 1,600 trainee doctors in South Korea's major hospitals staged a walkout on Tuesday.
00:08 They're protesting a government plan to admit more students to medical schools, which they
00:13 argue could lead to unnecessary medical procedures and undermine the finances of the national
00:18 health insurance plan.
00:20 Representatives for the doctors held an emergency meeting in the capital Seoul to discuss what
00:25 to do next, though their agenda so far is unclear.
00:29 On Tuesday, health officials confirmed that nearly half of the country's 13,000 doctors
00:33 and interns at large hospitals had handed in resignations, and around a quarter of them
00:39 had left their workplaces.
00:41 The second vice health minister said there had already been 34 cases where the walkout
00:45 had affected medical procedures, including 25 cancellations.
00:50 Currently, around 3,000 people are admitted to medical school every year in South Korea.
00:55 However, the plan the trainees are protesting would boost admissions by 2,000 starting in
01:01 the 2025 academic year, eventually hitting 10,000 more in a decade's time.
01:07 South Korea had only 2.6 doctors per 1,000 people in 2022, far below average for countries
01:14 in the OECD.
01:16 It sparked worry over an acute shortage of doctors for pediatrics, emergency units and
01:21 clinics outside the greater Seoul area.
01:24 A recent Gallup Korea poll showed over three-quarters of South Koreans back the plan for more medical
01:29 students.
01:30 Meanwhile, Tuesday's walkout has presented a real threat of delays to surgical operations
01:35 and patient treatment.
01:36 The prime minister pleaded with doctors to not "hold the lives and health of the people
01:41 hostage" and ordered emergency measures including more telemedicine, more operations at public
01:47 hospitals and opening up military clinics.
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