Trainee doctors to exert larger influence on reshuffled KMA leadership

The head of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), the largest doctors' group in the country, was impeached by vote after only six months in office. Medical sources say the medical community is now preparing for new leadership.

Now that Lim Hyun-taek has been impeached by the KMA delegates as demanded by trainee doctors and medical students, their impact will be felt in the new emergency committee and the next executive board.

“We want a KMA president who can understand and communicate,” the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) said.

Lim left amid criticism that he failed to do so.

KIRA said it would “not sit at the same table with Lim” but hoped to form a “solidarity” with the new KMA head. The Korean Medical Student Association, a representative organization of medical students, expressed a similar stance.

KIRA Chairman Park Dan said the KMA must distinguish its emergency committee from the next leadership. “Otherwise, there will be confusion in communication between the KMA and medical residents.”

According to the schedule, the KMA board of representatives revealed after their extraordinary meeting on Sunday that the emergency committee head and the new president will be elected about a month apart. The term of the emergency committee is “until the election of the new president.” Considering that the previous emergency committee that took office earlier this year clashed with then-president-elect Lim, many stress the importance of continuity between the emergency committee and the new leadership.

A delegate, who requested anonymity, said, “The trilateral consultative body of the government, political parties, and the medical community started its operation on Monday. So, the ‘golden time’ for canceling the 2025 medical school enrollment increase is nearing its end. Frequent replacement of players representing the medical community is not desirable.”

The emergency committee head is not restricted from running for the next KMA presidency. That also explains why people considered candidates for the emergency committee head, such as Joo Soo-ho, former KMA president, and Kim Taek-woo, former head of the KMA emergency committee, are also on the list of candidates for the next KMA presidency.

However, KIRA head Park’s remark that the election of the emergency committee head should be regarded as an “early by-election” to pick the KMA president will likely affect the KMA presidency election. In doing so, Park called for the emergency committee head to play “only that role.”

This is why the argument is that a medical professors’ association member should serve as the emergency committee head. The idea is to differentiate the emergency committee head from the candidates for KMA presidency who are mostly based on local practitioners.

Another delegate, who also requested anonymity, said, “The communication between doctors and trainee doctors and medical students has been done through the Medical Professors Association of Korea (MPAK) or the emergency committees at each university. It could be a good idea to pick the emergency committee head from among medical professors and let them play a bridging role between the next KMA president and trainee doctors.”

A third delegate said, “I am concerned that the next emergency committee head will be elected, not designated. However, it could be an opportunity to show the KMA’s willingness to communicate with trainee doctors and medical students.”

Trainee doctors may likely join the emergency committee to ‘produce results’

Some delegates also maintained that trainee doctors should directly participate in the KMA emergency committee and its executive board. They believe the key is not who becomes the KMA emergency committee head or its next president but how deeply trainee doctors are involved in the new leadership.

“I think there will be a lot of participation of trainee doctors in the emergency committee,” said Kim Kyo-woong, chairman of the KMA delegates, at a press briefing after the meeting. Starting with their participation in the trilateral consultative body that began operation on Monday, Kim reemphasized the trainee doctors’ role, saying, the issue of medical school enrollment quota will be handled “in consultation with medical students and trainee doctors.”

Some speculated that KIRA head Park would join the new emergency committee.

A delegate, also on condition of anonymity, said, “Although it is said that trainee doctors hold the key, the legal organization that represents the medical community is the KMA. So, there is a possibility that Park will openly join the KMA emergency committee to show that the medical community is ‘united’ again.”

“It is not impossible for the leader of medical residents to choose the emergency panel as a solidarity measure between KMA and KIRA. Park was a member of the previous emergency committee but was not active. He might do so once again,” the delegate added.

The delegate continued, “While symbolism and image may be important, now is the time for results. Time is running out. The KMA head has been impeached, so there's nowhere to back down and nowhere to run (for the doctors’ group). The medical community must find a smart way to change the government’s position.”