Medical professors in South Korea to resign!

A large number of medical professors in South Korea have decided to submit their resignations starting March 25 in order to ensure the government finds a solution regarding the trainee doctors protesting the increase in quotas.

According to a report by Yonhap, the statement issued by the medical professors indicated that the decision was made during an online meeting attended by professors from 20 universities, and that they would submit their resignations from the universities where they work starting March 25.

The statement noted that although the professors will resign from their universities, they will continue to treat patients in hospitals.

The professors had previously announced that if a reasonable solution was not found by the government by March 25, they would notify their universities of their decision regarding mass resignations.

WHAT HAPPENED?

The South Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare had decided to increase medical school quotas by 2,000 students due to the insufficiency of healthcare services in rural and critical medical fields.

Following this, doctors in the country organized protests on February 20 in many cities, primarily in the capital Seoul, on the grounds that the government's plan would "degrade the quality of medical education and services," and thousands of trainee doctors submitted their resignations.

The government raised the public health risk level from "cautious" to "serious," citing the impact of the resignations on public health.

An investigation was launched into 5 individuals from the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Pediatric Association on allegations of encouraging and directing thousands of trainee doctors to resign in protest of the initiative to increase the number of medical students.

Due to the mass resignation of trainee and resident doctors, nurses were granted permission on March 8 to perform CPR and administer medication to patients in emergency departments.

Warning notices were sent to approximately 5,000 trainee doctors who had submitted their resignations, stating that their licenses would be suspended.

News Source: AA