Professors “close once a week”, government “as planned for increased staff”

Professors at major medical schools across the country, including Seoul National University and Yonsei University, have decided to take a break once a week and begin resignation procedures starting today.

The government is not giving up its position, saying it will push ahead with next year’s medical school admissions plan as scheduled.

This is reporter Cho Hee-won.

◀ Report ▶

76%, or 480, of Seoul National University medical school professors announced that they would completely suspend medical treatment for one day on the 30th.

[방재승/서울대 의대교수 비대위원장]
″We will discuss the periodic suspension of medical treatment to prevent medical staff’s “burnout,” which is becoming more serious, at a later emergency committee meeting.″

However, we decided to maintain treatment for severe, emergency, and inpatient patients.

Professors at Seoul National University called for a halt in the number of doctors and announced that they would directly conduct research to estimate the number of doctors needed.

Yonsei University College of Medicine professors also decided to take a voluntary leave of absence for the 30th at an extraordinary meeting last night.

Professors at Chungnam National University and Wonkwang University Hospital will take a mass leave tomorrow, and those at Gyeongsang National University Hospital will take a mass leave on the 30th.

The resignation process for professors at some hospitals across the country also begins today.

The National Medical University Professors’ Emergency Response Committee announced on the 25th of last month that professors voluntarily submitted their resignations in accordance with the emergency committee policy, and that the resignation will take effect from today, one month later.

If there is no change in the government’s attitude, he put pressure on himself to actually resign, starting with the emergency committee leadership next month.

The government expressed regret over the professors’ decision to take a leave of absence.

However, saying that medical reform cannot be delayed, he encouraged each university to submit a college admissions implementation plan that reflects the “increase in medical schools” by the end of this month.

[박민수/보건복지부 제2차관]
″(The medical community) is requesting a one-year delay, but this goes against the public’s expectations and defeats the difficult start of medical reform, so it is not an alternative the government can choose.″

Due to the entrance exam schedule, it is impossible to re-determine the number of medical school students for the 2025 school year, and delaying the increase by one year is also unacceptable.

Kyungpook National University and Gyeongsang National University have decided to increase only 50% of the originally allocated number of students, while some private universities are known to apply for a 100% increase.

The government announced today that it will speed up medical reform by launching a special committee on medical reform under the President.

However, in the aftermath of the conflict over increasing the number of medical schools, the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Medical Residents Association declared their absence, resulting in a ‘half-launch’.

This is Jo Hee-won from MBC News.