Thousands of doctors rallied in Seoul to show support for young doctors who have been on strike for nearly two weeks over a government plan to dramatically increase the number of admissions to medical schools. teleSUR
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00:00 In South Korea, thousands of senior doctors march on Sunday in the country's capital
00:04 Seoul in support of their fellow trainees who are on strike against the government policies.
00:10 The march is in response to the latest threat from the executive, which has set a deadline
00:15 for the strike to end, or else they will face severe sanctions.
00:20 For almost two weeks, medical doctors have been protesting against the government's
00:24 plan to drastically increase the number of students enrolled at universities.
00:29 They say the measure will not necessarily solve the deficit of doctors, whereas it may
00:35 be in detriment of the quality of the training they would receive.
00:39 The government said that as of this Monday, it could begin to suspend licenses to all
00:44 9,000 striking doctors.
00:50 The shortage of medical personnel can be solved by changing current policies rather than by
00:55 increasing the number of doctors.
00:58 To put it simply, five years ago, there was a shortage of 3,000 doctors a year, a total
01:03 of 15,000 doctors.
01:05 At that time, Korea's population was larger and there were many more pediatric patients.
01:10 This phenomenon did not exist even five years ago, when the birth rate was twice as high.
01:15 So the problem is policy, not the number of doctors.
01:18 But the government is misleading the public by saying that this phenomenon is due to a
01:23 shortage of doctors and is putting doctors in a negative light.
01:28 On Sunday, in Pakistan, Shabazz Sharif was voted as prime minister for a second term.