Tens Of Thousands Of Doctors In South Korea Will Protest In The Aftermath Of Additional Medical Quota

JAKARTA - Tensions between the government and doctors in South Korea escalated as the Korean Medical Association (KAM) plan to hold a mass demonstration on Sunday (3/3) in the aftermath of a dispute over the addition of a quota of medical students.

"About 20,000 doctors are expected to take part in the demonstration," said KMA's statement as reported by Yonhap, Saturday.

Launching ANTARA, Saturday, March 2, the massive demonstration in western Seoul was motivated by the government which increased pressure on doctors who went on strike by filing criminal charges against several former KMA officials.

The Seoul Police on Friday (1/3) raided the office house of KMA officials on charges of encouraging training participant doctors to leave their jobs in mass and support strikes.

This is considered by KMA as a clear warning that the government will not hesitate to take legal action if the strike continues. In fact, the strike was because the local government did not have a breakthrough amid the increasing risk of major medical interference.

Earlier on Thursday (29/2), the government had submitted a final request to junior doctors to return to work on Thursday or they would face penalties, including suspension of permits.

The government's appeal was unsuccessful in getting the training and resident doctors back to the hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, only 6 percent or 565 of the 9,510 doctors who broke down had returned to work.

In response to the dispute, the World Medical Association has issued a statement calling the government's plan a unilateral decision that drastically increases the acceptance of medical students, implemented without clear evidence and a lack of consultation and consensus with a group of experts.

However, South Korea's Ministry of Health strongly denies the claims by saying that the statement only represents the unilateral opinion of Korean doctors, while confirming that it has held more than 130 talks with medical circles.

Meanwhile, the Korean Health and Medical Union voiced concern over the increasing gap in health services, saying collective rejection of medical care by specialists had threatened the patient's life because it could not be done on time.