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A person passes by the Korean Medical Association’s headquarters in Yongsan District, Seoul, on Feb. 6, where a poster on the door condemns the administration’s “unilateral” increase to the medical school admission cap. (Yonhap)

Interns and residents at five major hospitals in Seoul announced plans for their en masse resignation by Monday to protest the Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s decision to raise the cap on medical college admissions.

Meanwhile, the administration reiterated its position that the expansion in the number of medical students “can no longer be delayed.”

As of Friday, a total of 715 interns and residents at 23 hospitals nationwide had submitted their resignation notices, although none of the hospitals had yet accepted them.

In a statement on the collective action by physicians issued on Sunday at the central government complex in Seoul, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stressed, “The increase in medical college admission caps can no longer be delayed.”

“Health care reforms cannot succeed unless an absolute number of physicians can be ensured,” he warned.

Han’s remarks reiterated the administration’s position calling for an increase of the maximum number of medical college admissions nationwide by 2,000 per year for a five-year period beginning with the 2025 academic year’s entrance examination.

Responding to arguments from some in the medical community that the increase will reduce the quality of medical education, Han said, “The administration will commit its full energy to providing support to increase the number of professors by subject and ensure the substance of essential health care and practical education.”

윤석열 대통령이 16일 대전의 한 호텔에서 열린 열두번째 ‘국민과 함께하는 민생토론회’에서 발언하고 있다. 대통령실 제공

Observers saw the statement on Sunday as a response to the intensifying collective action by interns and residents protesting the increase in the medical college cap.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a total of 715 interns and residents had submitted resignations as of 6 pm on Friday at 23 hospitals nationwide, including Asan Medical Center, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Yeouido St. Mary’s Hospital, and Gangnam Severance Hospital. Earlier the same day, the ministry had announced that 235 individuals at 10 hospitals had tendered resignations, but that number rose significantly with subsequent reports.

Interns and residents at these so-called “big five” general hospitals in Seoul had announced plans to submit their resignations by Monday and stop working as of Tuesday, raising the possibility of an additional barrage of resignation notices arriving on Monday.

How long the physicians’ collective action will last will depend on how many more interns and residents hand in their resignations, and how many actually walk off the job.
 
The government has barred teaching hospitals from accepting resignations, citing the Medical Service Act and other relevant laws. In a press briefing after announcing the policy, the government emphasized that it would penalize interns and other medical workers who participate in unlawful collective action as prescribed by the law. 
 
Residents who hand in their resignations will be ordered, in accordance with the Medical Service Act, to resume work. Administrative disposition — the execution of laws by administrative authorities — will be taken if they do not comply.
 
To prevent physicians from returning temporarily to their stations before walking out once more, the government also ordered teaching hospitals to report daily on whether their physicians were indeed working.
 
In response to Han’s declaration, the Korean Medical Association’s emergency committee issued a statement. 

“If the government tries to frame medical students and residents as engaging in unconstitutional actions when they are simply acting on a voluntary basis, it will be met with a health care catastrophe,” the statement read. 

By Cheon Ho-sung, staff reporter; Shin Min-jung, staff reporter

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