Despite KMA’s push for strike, most mom-and-pop clinics in Seoul remain open

Despite the Korean Medical Association’s all-out support for a nationwide walkout of mom-and-pop clinics, only a few clinic owners participated in the strike on Tuesday.

The KMA on June 9 released the results of a poll on all its members saying 73.5 percent of them supported clinics’ collective action in June. The KMA described this as the "most overwhelming result" of any strike-related poll it has ever conducted.

However, The Korean Doctors' Weekly, a sisterpaper of Korea Biomedical Review, visited clinics in major districts in Seoul and Goyang in Gyeonggi Province and found that only a fraction of clinics closed. Almost no clinic chose to open only in the morning. 

Of the 30 clinics we visited in Nowon-gu, only one was closed. The doctor at the clinic informed us that he was taking the day off to "check the air conditioning and heating equipment.” Three clinics were open only in the morning.

The situation was similar in Gangnam-gu. Out of the 20 clinics we visited, only two were closed.

A clinic owner in otolaryngology in Gaepo-dong, Gangnam-gu, said, "Since yesterday, patients have been inquiring about whether we will be closed. It is difficult to answer clearly whether we will be closed in the afternoon.”

Another clinic owner in plastic surgery in Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, said, “We are not seeing new patients today. But we had to open today to check on the patient we operated on yesterday.”

Practitioners we spoke with said it was difficult for mom-and-pop clinics to close services. The 73.5 percent of the KMA members who said they would participate in the strike was "just a number," they said.

A director of a mental health clinic in Jung-gu said, "Last year, I went on a partial strike and rallied during the nursing law crisis, but I can't do it this time. At that time, it was only a morning clinic day." "I kept thinking about joining the strike until yesterday (June 17), but I opened the clinic anyway. I think there are many clinics like us that have opened after thinking about it."

An owner of a pediatric clinic in Mapo-gu said, "It's impossible to ask a neighborhood clinic to close down and join the strike. Parents and guardians were up in arms after they saw the news about the collective action.”

He said he voted not to participate in the general strike. 

“What's the point of voting if you're not going to do it? Voting is just a number. I have to make a living," he said.

An official at a rehabilitation medicine clinic in Deokyang-gu, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, even asked this reporter how many clinics were closed today.

"For a small clinic, it's too much to ask for a day off on a weekday," he said. Of the 14 nearby clinics, only two were closed. Only one said they would close in the afternoon.