1,300 trainee doctors sue health minister, vice minister for ‘trampling on them and cursing their future’

Trainee doctors have filed a class action lawsuit against Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyoo-hong and Vice Minister Park Min-soo.

The top two health officials were accused of abuse of authority and obstruction of the exercise of rights. The junior doctors claimed that "Korean medicine is dead" due to the government's illegal actions in unilaterally increasing the medical school enrollment quota. They also demanded that President Yoon Suk Yeol dismiss Vice Minister Park.

The trainee doctors held a news conference at the Korean Medical Association (KMA) on Monday, announcing they would sue Minister Cho and Vice Minister Park. A total of 1,360 resigned interns and residents took part in the class action suit.

The plaintiffs said they believed the government abused its authority and prevented them from exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights, calling Vice Minister Park its prime mover.

"The two top health officials prohibited hospitals from accepting trainee doctors’ resignation and forced them to work against their will by issuing mandatory medical maintenance and work commencement orders,” the plaintiffs said. “They also prevented trainee doctors from exercising their legitimate rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws, including the right to rest, the right to resign, the right to choose a career, and the right not to be forced into labor."

They pointed out that Vice Minister Park used extrajudicial and arbitrary orders to spearhead this medical school expansion and essential medical care package policy.

“To impose a policy that lacks evidence and is impossible to implement in the medical field, these officials did not hesitate to violate the human rights of young doctors who deserve full respect as citizens of the country," they added.

The trainee doctors also said President Yoon should dismiss Park. "We will never return to the hospital until Park’s dismissal," they added.

“These officials have pushed wrong policies, disregarding citizens' rights and disrupting the constitutional order. They constantly humiliated doctors and cursed the future of young doctors with barbed language whenever they had the chance," the junior doctors said.

They stressed that normal communication between the medical community and the government is impossible “as long as Vice Minister Park remains in his post. They added that President Yoon "should show to the public it is changing first (by firing Park).”

The trainee doctors also said the medical community should unite around the Korean Medical Association.

"We ask our seniors in the medical community to show that you are united around the KMA, even though you are in different situations," they said. “Please consider the feelings of trainee doctors and medical students who had to see the news report of Vice Minister Park smiling and delivering a congratulatory speech at KMA’s general assembly."

The junior doctors continued, "Please consider the thoughts and feelings of the trainee doctors who gave up their training and study at the most important time of their lives. We will firmly believe and rely on our seniors as we have done until now."