On the 13th, the Presidential Office emphasized that the plan to increase the number of medical students by 2,000 is a decision of the government responsible for the people’s health and well-being. It also stated that administrative measures, such as license suspension, will be taken against non-returning medical residents.
Jang Sang Yoon, the Presidential Senior Secretary for Social Affairs, appeared on SBS Radio’s Kim Tae Hyun’s Political Show this morning and emphasized, “The decision to add 2,000 medical students announced by the government is a conclusion reached after a year of finding scientific, objective evidence and consulting with the medical community. It’s a necessary scale for medical reform.”
Senior Secretary Jang explained the increase of 2,000 more students, “It’s not a figure agreed upon with the medical community, but we asked several times during the decision-making process and asked for opinions. It’s a figure that emerged from discussing medical reform issues together.”
In response to the argument for speed control from some in the medical community and opposition parties, he refuted, “The quota of medical schools is something that the government is responsible for under the national medical personnel supply law. This scale is not the subject of negotiation or compromise. We will listen to the medical community’s opinions, but it’s something the government should be responsible for and decide.”
He continued, “Looking at other countries, no country decides by agreement with doctors or medical professionals on how many medical school quotas would be appropriate. Suppose there is a dialogue between the government and the medical community. In that case, we will not exclude discussions on the scale of the increase, but the government’s position on the increase of 2,000 is firm. It’s a matter of explaining and persuading through the basis we think of, not giving and taking 1,000 or 500.”
Senior Secretary Jang said of the proposal from the faculty council of Seoul National University College of Medicine to discuss expanding the medical school quota after a year with an overseas institution, “I think it’s just an attempt to evade the government’s responsibility by suggesting that we entrust it to an external institution, which the government should be responsible for and decide. If we delay medical reform another year, the damage will be more severe.”
In response to a question about whether administrative measures such as license suspension will be taken against non-returning residents, he emphasized, “It’s an administrative measure. As we announced in February, collective action is illegal. We issued a work-start order and gave a final notice to return by February 29, but they didn’t return to their posts. We have to go by principle.”
Regarding the point that this week will be a critical point in the medical field, Senior Secretary Jang said, “The Ministry of Health and Welfare monitors the situation of the hospitals where residents and faculty have left daily. The ones in crisis are the tertiary hospitals, where the number of inpatients has decreased by 40%, and the surgeries they perform have decreased by about half. However, there is no big change in treating critically ill patients, which is the core of tertiary hospitals.”
He commented on the medical staff working in emergency rooms and general hospitals, saying, “Doctors and nurses may get exhausted or, in other words, burned out if the situation is prolonged. The government is most worried about that and focuses on supplementing and making it sustainable.”
jrkim@news1.kr