South Korean doctors submit resignations in row with government over school admission quotas

Doctors’ groups and the government have been squabbling over a government plan to increase the number of medical school admissions by 2,000, starting from next year.

Health authorities say it is urgent to have more doctors, considering South Korea’s fast-ageing population. They say the number of doctors in the country relative to the size of the population is among the lowest in the developed world.

But doctors’ groups say the government must use available resources to raise medical fees and resolve other problems first. Some doctors say raising admissions could result in unnecessary medical treatments because of a competition among doctors and could burden the public health insurance plan.

On Monday, trainee doctors at the country’s five major hospitals began submitting letters of resignation before formally walking off their jobs on Tuesday. Their association, the Korea Intern Resident Association, decided on the collective action during an emergency meeting last week.

Seoul’s Asan Medical Center said a number of interns and resident doctors there submitted resignations and that it was trying to reschedule surgeries and other treatments for some patients. Seoul’s Severance Hospital said some of its trainee doctors also handed in resignations and suggested it could rearrange surgery schedules as well.

South Korean media reported that hundreds of trainee doctors at other hospitals also submitted resignations. Reports said some hospitals cancelled or put off planned cancer surgeries, childbirths and other procedures in which trainees assist senior doctors.