South Korea to improve striking doctors’ pay, says healthcare crisis ‘an exaggeration’
- The increase in pay, and improving working conditions for young doctors, tackle key demands by medical trainees who have walked off the job
- More than 10,000 medical interns and resident doctors are protesting a government plan to increase medical school admissions to tackle a shortage of doctors
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the current practice of forcing young doctors to work 36 hours at a stretch was partly responsible for their protest walkout and must be changed.
“We will start the trial as soon as possible,” he said, adding that the government would consider limiting to 24 hours the period that resident doctors and interns must work continuously.
From this month, trainee doctors in paediatrics will receive an allowance of 1 million won (US$757) from this month, and the government plans similar payments for other trainee doctors, he added.
It will start with those in essential specialisations such as emergency medicine and general surgery and will allocate additional government budget, he said.
More than 10,000 medical interns and resident doctors are protesting a government plan to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 a year to tackle a shortage of doctors it fears in one of the world’s fastest-ageing populations.