Interns, residents to go on strike Nov. 8

Interns and residents, who had taken care of patients at emergency rooms and intensive care units despite a doctors¡¯ strike, reaffirmed their plan to go on a strike from Nov. 8, raising fears of crippled medical care at general hospitals.

However, as medical circles decided to reappoint representatives to participate in the doctor-pharmacy-government council and return to the negotiating table, the tripartite dialogue is expected to resume as soon as Tuesday. The talks have been deadlocked since Nov. 3.

The emergency countermeasure committee of interns and residents held a national convention of representatives at Youth Town in Mt. Sokni on Sunday and reaffirmed their plan to withdraw from emergency rooms, intensive care units and delivery rooms that they staffed during the strike.

A spokesman for the committee said that they made the decision since the tripartite committee had failed to produce any noticeable outcome despite three meetings and their medical rights remain in danger of being violated.

If the medical trainees stop offering medical services, medical professors and fellow doctors will be required to take their places, so citizens are likely to suffer inconveniences due to the shortage of medical specialists. But the nation is expected to avoid the worst scenario of a medical service crisis as some interns and residents opposed the striking plan and declared that they will continue to work at emergency rooms.

Earlier on Nov. 4-5, the Korean Medical Association (KMA) held a national rally of doctors at the same place and agreed to return to the negotiating table with the government and pharmacists after appointing new representatives.

On Monday, the KMA held the first meeting of its newly-organized committee for regaining medical rights and discussed various issues and future strategies including the organization of a 10-member subcommittee and when to return to the negotiating table.