The medical community is seething over a proposal by Rep. Kim Yoon of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) to prohibit emergency room doctors from striking.

"Do you think all you have to do is put us on a leash so we cannot leave ERs?” an angry physician said.

In an interview with the Maeil Business Daily last Friday, Kim said he is preparing a bill to ban strikes by emergency room and intensive care unit doctors. "We can't allow doctors to empty ERs and ICUs and then go out and strike," he said.

The medical professor-turned-lawmaker said he would prevent doctors in these facilities from “enforcing the use of force,” by stipulating their work as essential maintenance duty under a bill provisionally titled “Emergency Room and Intensive Care Unit Patient Protection Act.” Kim emphasized that trainee doctors should be held to the same level of mandatory maintenance work.

"The emergency room, intensive care unit, and operating room should be required to maintain a minimum staffing level, and the severity of punishment should be adjusted to distinguish whether a general ward is vacated or an intensive care unit is vacated," Kim said.

The medical community protested that Kim was misleading public opinion by distorting the facts.

Physicians pointed out that even after the mass resignation of trainee doctors, specialists did not leave ERs and ICUs. Still, the lawmaker joined in the "demonization of doctors" by turning a blind eye to such efforts.

"Even in difficult situations, most emergency care specialists remain in the emergency room to care for patients. The same goes for intensive care units," said an emergency medicine professor at a university hospital. "Some ERs and ICUs might have collapsed after holding on till the end, but I don't know of any emergency departments that have closed due to strikes."

The professor continued, “If you're moving to ban strikes, what will you do if they resign and walk out? I'm surprised that in a liberal democracy with freedom of choice of profession, the idea of banning resignation only for doctors is surprising. It sends the message that we shouldn't do emergency medicine. Even if you make a law against strikes, it won't work in the real world, and it's like telling resident physicians and medical students not to come back.”

Another professor of emergency medicine said, "Do you think you can normalize the healthcare system by just putting a leash on resigning trainee doctors and putting them in the emergency room?”

The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine (KSEM) also reacted strongly.

"The emergency medicine trainee doctors who rebelled against the government's policy did not return for the second half of the recruitment and are unlikely to return next year," KSEM President Lee Hyung-min said. "There are things that should be forced and things that should not be forced. This is not something that can be solved by force. Rep. Kim may not know it because he has never practiced medicine."

Lee continued, "When wrong beliefs meet stubbornness, the consequences are obvious. Rep. Kim is the one who ruined emergency medicine. He took the lead in creating the Basic Plan for Emergency Medicine and the Development Plan for Emergency Medicine, and he ruined emergency medicine. How can he be so brazen-faced as to make the wrong move?”

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) was concerned it would be an “emergency room closure law.”

"As a physician, I hope the lawmaker will think twice if medical students and trainee doctors choose emergency medicine as their majors if such a law exists," said Anna Choi, general director and spokesperson for the association. "This law means to eliminate emergency departments and the same as the emergency department closure bill."

Choi continued, "We're not calling making healthcare policy for doctors. We must create a policy so people can get care in the right system. Doctors are the people, too. This is an anti-democratic and unconstitutional bill that targets the people. The lawmaker is making anti-democratic and extra-constitutional claims against the people."

Chae Dong-young, director of public relations and deputy spokesperson at KMA, also criticized the bill.

"It is a bill that facilitates the closure of emergency rooms already are collapsing. Even emergency medicine specialists, let alone trainee doctors, will realize working in the emergency room is like a slave contract putting on their shackles," Chae said.