South Korea: Medical professors, docs to hold nationwide debate on reforms next month

Seoul: Medical school professors and community doctors in South Korea decided on Saturday to convene a one-day nationwide debate next month on the government's medical reform, a decision that will apparently result in a collective one-day walkout.

A doctors' consultative group, known as the "special committee for upright medical care", resolved to hold the debate on July 26 with participation from doctors of every discipline, including medical school professors, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Represented by medical professors as well as trainee and community doctors, the committee was launched earlier this month as the representative body to negotiate with the government over medical reform.

Committee officials said the debate will inevitably lead to a one-day suspension of medical services by participants, who are likely to be mostly medical professors at general university hospitals.

Committee members also reiterated their call for the government to abandon its medical school quota hike, which they said was decided without scientific justification.

The decision came amid the continuing standoff between the government and the doctors' community over the government's decision to increase admission quotas across medical schools nationwide by about 1,500 seats for next year in an effort to address a shortage of doctors.

Medical professors at three major hospitals of Yonsei University have been on an indefinite walkout since Thursday, demanding "tangible measures" from the government to resolve the ongoing health care crisis.

Since late February, trainee doctors nationwide have also been staying off their duties at general hospitals in protest, significantly reducing medical service capacities at the hospitals.