South Korea’s health minister has warned of a threat to patients’ lives after professors of medicine said they may join striking junior doctors involved in a three-week standoff that has plunged the medical field into chaos.
On Tuesday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong urged professors — who are also senior doctors in many hospitals — to help their striking colleagues return to work, not join them at the barricades. He said:
“I express serious concern over the decision. It will pose a threat to health and lives of patients.”
However, the Korean Medical Professors Association said senior doctors were working hard to help hospitals provide essential services amid the disruption.
The professors said they “hope for a quick end” to the conflict, but warned that if the government did not come to the negotiating table “without conditions” more doctors could join the strike.
Thousands of medical trainees did not go to work on 20 February to protest the government’s plans to dramatically increase the number of doctors, which it says is necessary to combat staff shortages and serve South Korea’s rapidly ageing population. The doctors say this will not solve the problem, but only lead to a decline in the quality of care.
