Junior doctors criticize seniors for doing little to thwart increase in medical students

In the medical turmoil of over a half year caused by the government’s medical school enrollment quota, senior doctors have failed to play their role while relying only on trainee doctors and medical students, junior doctors said on Sunday.

Young doctors, noting that it's been more than six months since trainee doctors and medical students left hospitals and schools, giving up everything they had, blamed senior doctors for sticking to their positions while failing to find a solution.

At the autumn conference hosted by the Korean Association of Surgeons at a Seoul hotel, junior doctors said they were “disappointed” with senior doctors and “felt hopeless.”

Some resigned trainee surgeons said they wanted to return to the hospital to become surgical specialists. The resigning doctors and their parents asked senior doctors what they could do about the ongoing situation.

A junior surgeon who resigned before beginning his third-year training expressed his frustration. He said he wanted to return to the hospital as soon as possible to complete his training and become a surgeon. He was also worried that his “hands would get stiff” as a surgeon.

“I want to be a surgeon and go back and train as soon as possible. It's a shame that the training period has been reduced to three years (from four years). My hands remain idle when I should be in the operating room learning to conduct a surgery,” he said. “I've been doing nothing for six months, and if things continue this way, I won't be able to return even next March. I want to dedicate myself to ‘vital (care)’ for the rest of my life, but I'm scared I won't be able to do so.”

He continued, “This is a government that doesn't have common sense. It said there were no meeting minutes (about expanding medical students, then changed their words to say they destroyed them. We need to utilize this more to appeal to public opinion, but it's not working well. I want the medical community to consider and deal with it instead of requesting more time to accumulate political justifications. Standing still is not a good idea.”

A medical student’s parent attended the conference at the request of the association to discuss how to resolve the situation but was “disappointed.” She accused senior doctors and professors of hiding behind medical residents and students.

“The only thing these trainee doctors and medical students can do is resign and take a leave of absence. There is nothing else they can do,” the parent said. “Professors and senior doctors should solve this problem. Junior doctors and medical students have no power to fight the government.”

The parent continued, “Trainee doctors and medical students gave up a long time of one year, and it was rumored that the secondary hospitals were raking in money in the meantime. Interns, residents, and medical students have never earned a dime, and public opinion says, 'We don't need doctors like you.' If professors had stopped working even for a month when this happened, it could have been resolved sooner. But they said they couldn't leave their patients, so they stayed on.”

“How can we take another year off from school? (The government) says it can win if it endures another six months. Should we sacrifice more? If we must turn the public opinion around, the Korean Medical Association should take the lead in communicating with the public,” the parent said.

The parent commented on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s recent visit to Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital.

“When President Yoon said he would find a solution conscious of public opinion, I saw the same thing happen again the next day. I thought this situation could never be resolved,” the parent said.

Another parent pointed out that some professors have contacted first-year pre-med students and forced them to return, calling for the KMA to take action. These professors told students that if they return next year, they will have to take classes with the class of 2025, so they should return this year.

Lee Seh-ra, president of the Korean Association of Surgeons, said senior doctors “need to be more proactive.” Still, she also said that to sway public opinion, they shouldn't leave their patients' sides.

“We need to keep at least emergency rooms. We must save the lives we can save,” she said. “That’s the only way to reduce the criticism of doctors even if public opinion turns unfavorable.”

She also said that if there is evidence of cajoling medical students by professors, the KMA can refer them to the Central Ethics Committee for disciplinary proceedings.

“Since before the division of labor between the medicine and pharmacy, seniors have always been criticized for putting students under the gun,” said Kim Jong-min, the Korean Association of Surgeons insurance director. However, we will take responsibility to ensure that no harm is caused to juniors, especially the pre-med students.”