Health ministry orders neighborhood clinics to remain open

On Monday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare ordered neighborhood clinics to report their closures or treatment suspensions.

The government decided so at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting.

Jeon Byung-wang, head of the Healthcare Policy Office at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said the government would issue a medical treatment order and a closure report order for clinics based on the Medical Service Act.

The ministry also told localities to issue medical treatment orders to medical institutions in their jurisdiction to conduct medical treatment without closing on June 18, the day of a collective strike by doctors.  

The order also required medical institutions that plan to close next Tuesday to notify the government by Thursday.

Jeon explained that this is the “minimum legal measure to protect the lives and health of the public against illegal collective labor actions by the medical community.”

The government will also initiate a legal review of the KMA that induces illegal collective action to determine whether it violates the Fair Trade Act, he said.

Governing camp shows ‘deep regret” on doctors’ decision on collective action

The government and the ruling party have expressed regret over the medical community’s decision to declare an all-out struggle against the government to protest its policy to increase the medical school enrollment quota.

In a public briefing Sunday, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo “expressed deep regret” over the decision by the emergency task force of the faculty council of Seoul National University College of Medicine and Seoul National University Hospital to indefinitely suspend all medical services and the declaration of a general strike by the Korean Medical Association (KMA).

“The social foundation that the medical community and patients have built over decades should not collapse in a moment due to the strong demands by a few people,” Premier Han said.

“We know that the silent majority of doctors will not agree with this collective action,” the prime minister said. “The overwhelming majority of doctors are still standing on call and protecting their patients for their colleagues. The government will minimize the healthcare gap while making every effort to persuade the medical community until the last minute to prevent a general strike and total shutdown from becoming a reality."

The prime minister reiterated that returning doctors will not be penalized in any way.

"The government boldly decided last Tuesday to allow doctors to return to work. On Wednesday, it sent a letter to all training hospitals again, clearly stating that there will be no administrative penalties for returning doctors,” Han said. “I promise that there will be no penalties, including administrative disciplines, for returning doctors.”

“We ask each training hospital to do its best to make trainee doctors return to work,” Han said. “The government will also take necessary measures to minimize resignations and no-returns.”

The ruling People Power Party (PPP) criticized the medical community for taking collective action and calling for the government's executive order to be canceled rather than rescinded, saying it is “making unreasonable claims.”

“Despite the government's efforts to induce doctors to return to work, the revolt by doctors' organizations has not diminished,” PPP Spokeswoman Kim Hye-ran said in a commentary on Saturday. “If a general strike is decided, many doctors will likely take a collective leave of absence. If that happens, the outcries and suffering of patients will exacerbate."

“The government announced last Tuesday that it would rescind various orders, including the practice maintenance order, the business start-up order, and the order prohibiting the acceptance of resignation letters, and stop the administrative disposition process of suspending licenses for returning doctors, but the doctors' organizations are making unreasonable claims that all administrative dispositions should be canceled as if they never happened,” Kim said.

“Furthermore, the faculty council of Seoul National University College of Medicine and Seoul National University Hospitals have resolved to suspend all outpatient services and surgeries except for severe and emergency patients from next Monday, demanding a complete revocation of the administrative disposals,” Kim said. “It is sad that doctors are trying to push their demands at the expense of patients' lives.”

"All reforms come with pain. We will listen to and communicate with doctors at every step of the way,” she said. “Please remember the ethics of doctors is to protect the lives and health of patients, and their place is at the bedside, not on the strike floor.”

Medical community sends overwhelming support to ‘hardline struggle’

The government’s moves followed the medical community’s declaration of an “all-out” fight.

On Sunday morning, the Korean Medical Association declared a general strike and announced that it would suspend all treatment and hold a national rally next Tuesday. The KMA said 90 percent of its members supported the hardline struggle, and 73.5 percent said they would take a complete leave of absence.

In the vote from last Tuesday to Friday, 70,800 doctors, or 63.3 percent of the 111,861 KMA members, participated. Among them, 35.3 percent were clinic operators, and 33.9 percent were salaried physicians. In addition, 13.6 percent were professors, and 8.2 percent were trainee doctors.

Some 90.6 percent of voters (64,139) supported the hardline struggle led by KMA. Also, 73.5 percent (52,015) said they would participate in collective actions this month, including a leave of absence. The KMA said it was the “most overwhelming outcome” of all strike-related polls.

After confirming its members' support, the KMA said it would form a special committee for the struggle and launch an “anti-government struggle for medical normalization.”

“There is no place to retreat,” KMA President Lim Hyun-taek declared. “The 140,000 physician members and 20,000 medical students nationwide will stop being patient, declare the recent medical manipulation a state of emergency for the entire medical community, and wage a powerful governmental struggle to normalize medical care.”

“The government has pushed healthcare to the brink of death, which has only been maintained at the expense of doctors,” Lim said. “We will act now to save Korean healthcare.”

“We will form a special committee for the struggle of the medical profession and mobilize all means and methods to fight the government,” Lim said. “As a start, we will hold a general strike next Tuesday, with all 140,000 members of the Korean Medical Association, medical students, parents, and the entire public participating.”

Lim demanded that the government halt the policy and apologize.

"The government should stop the oppressive policies of the past four months and apologize to the people. Ask for forgiveness from the doctors and medical students and immediately dismiss those responsible for the current medical farming crisis," he said.

If the government refuses, “we will never stop our struggle until we correct the recent medical clashes and set the Korean medical system on the right track,” Lim added.