{"id":24932,"date":"2024-03-25T00:25:59","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T04:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/south-koreas-medical-professors-join-protests-reduce-hours-in-practice\/25\/03\/2024\/"},"modified":"2024-03-25T00:25:59","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T04:25:59","slug":"south-koreas-medical-professors-join-protests-reduce-hours-in-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/south-koreas-medical-professors-join-protests-reduce-hours-in-practice\/25\/03\/2024\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea’s medical professors join protests, reduce hours in practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Hyunsu Yim<\/p>\n

SEOUL (Reuters) – Medical professors in South Korea said they will cut back on the hours they spend in practice starting on Monday to support trainee doctors on strike for more than a month over a government plan to boost medical school admissions.<\/p>\n

“It is clear that increasing medical school admissions will not only ruin medical school education but cause our country’s healthcare system to collapse,” Kim Chang-soo, the president of the Medical Professors Association of Korea, told reporters.<\/p>\n

He said the professors will start scaling back outpatient treatment to focus on emergency and severely ill patients, while some will submit their resignations.<\/p>\n

The strike by the trainee doctors over a plan to increase the number of students admitted each year to medical school from 2025 has forced several hospitals to turn back patients and delay procedures.<\/p>\n

The government says the plan is vital to remedy a shortage of doctors in one of the world’s fastest-ageing societies, but critics have said the authorities should focus on improving the working conditions of trainee doctors first.<\/p>\n

The trainee doctors have been on strike since Feb 20, and President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a><\/span><\/span>, who has made healthcare reforms one of his signature policy initiatives, has vowed not to back down on implementing the admissions plan.<\/p>\n

The government has also threatened to suspend the licences of the doctors who have walked off their jobs but on Sunday, Yoon appeared to seek a more conciliatory approach and urged Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to seek “flexible measures” in dealing with the suspension.<\/p>\n

Yoon’s office said he also ordered the prime minister to form a “constructive consultative body” to speak with all medical professionals.<\/p>\n

According to a Gallup poll released on March 15, 38% said the government was doing a good job dealing with backlash from doctors and the medical void amid the doctors’ strike while 49% said “not a good job”.<\/p>\n

(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; editing by Miral Fahmy)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Hyunsu Yim SEOUL (Reuters) – Medical professors in South Korea said they will cut back on the hours they spend in