The Strike Of Young Doctors Never Ends, South Korean Medicine Professor Will Reduce Working Hours

Young doctors in South Korea went on strike. (Instagram/@cmseoul_international)

JAKARTA - South Korean professors of medicine are preparing to reduce their working hours this week to cope with the growing fatigue caused by a prolonged strike by a junior doctor.

According to the emergency response committee for professors of national medicine, professors, who are senior doctors in major hospitals, will cut their working hours from Monday.

"Although we have treated patients indefinitely and reduced their number, it seems we have reached our physical limits. We will rearrange our working hours." said Bang Jae-seung, committee chair, at a press conference Saturday as reported by Antara.

Bang said a recent survey at a university hospital showed the professors' weekly working hours ranged from 60 to 98 hours, and the committee had agreed that the professors would take day-to-day leave after 24-hour consecutive work.

Based on the plan, the professor will focus on treating patients with serious illness and emergency while reducing surgery and services for outpatients.

"We will continue to treat emergency patients to fulfill our duties as doctors," said Bang.

"We apologize for the increasing public discomfort, but please understand that this is an act that needs to be taken for the safety of patients and medical staff," he continued.

This action was taken a week after associations of different medical professors reduced their weekly working hours to 52 hours. The association also said its professors would minimize services for outpatients starting Monday in order to concentrate on patients with severe illness and emergency.

The health ministry said the government held a response meeting chaired by Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong on Sunday and expressed regret over plans to reduce working hours.

Cho ordered the government to thoroughly examine the operation of emergency rooms and intensive care units and take stronger emergency response measures, the ministry said.

More than 90 percent of the country's 13,000 interns have been striken in the form of mass resignations since February 20 to protest the government's decision to add a quota for medical school registration of 2,000 seats out of the current 3,058 seats.