Yoon, Lee to discuss solutions for medical conflict

The crisis of medical service vacuum caused by trainee doctors (interns and residents) resigning and leaving hospitals in protest against the government's policy of expanding the number of medical school enrollments has been going on for 70 days on Sunday. President Yoon Suk Yeol and Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung will meet at the Yongsan presidential office on Monday to discuss a solution to the conflict. If no resolution is reached at the meeting, there are concerns that a medical crisis could materialize as doctors continue to take collective leave or resign.

According to sources for The Dong-A Ilbo on Sunday, President Yoon will hear in detail from Lee about the Democratic Party's stance on the prolonged medical service vacuum and ask Lee for his opinion. “In the end, (the conflict between the government and medical doctors) must be concluded by relevant (social) councils,” a senior official at the presidential office said. “We are hopeful that the talks will provide a direction for a resolution.”

The government is considering punishing medical professors by applying the Civil Service Act and other laws if their collective leave of absence and resignation materialize. In response, Lim Hyun-taek, the incoming president of the Korean Medical Association, called the government’s warning “low-level threats of a neighborhood bully” and strongly warned that the association would fight with all our might if even a single strain of a professor’s hair is touched.


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