[D-1 Doctors' General Strike] Five Consecutive Meetings in Three Days... Will They Find Common Ground on Medical Policy?

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun (far right) is meeting with Korea Medical Association President Choi Dae-jip (far left) and other association officials at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 24th. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] With the second general strike by medical organizations just one day away, dialogue between the government and the medical community will continue on the 25th. Since the meeting between Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun and young doctors on the 23rd, five consecutive meetings have been held over three days, drawing attention to whether the gap in positions can be narrowed.

According to related departments, a working-level team managed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare will meet with the Korea Medical Association (KMA) on this day to continue consultations. Although there has been a significant gap in positions during several previous meetings and negotiations, and no substantial results have been achieved, both sides share a consensus that "the issue must be resolved through dialogue," so the atmosphere of rejecting meetings itself has disappeared. A Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, "We will continue to consult with the KMA."

Earlier, on the 23rd, a meeting between Prime Minister Chung and the Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA) opened the previously blocked dialogue between the government and medical circles. On the following day, the 24th, government officials including Prime Minister Chung and Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, as well as medical leaders such as KMA President Choi Dae-jip, met and agreed on the necessity of dialogue.

The Korean Medical Association, which has announced a second strike in protest against the expansion of medical school quotas, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the relevant government department, held an emergency meeting on the 19th. Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, and Choi Dae-jib, President of the Korean Medical Association, are attending the 'Medical-Government Meeting' held at the Koreana Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Joint Press Corps

Later that day, a working-level meeting was held between Ministry of Health and Welfare officials, including department heads, and the KMA executive team, but no significant progress was made. As negotiations reached a stalemate and the situation seemed to be heading toward a breakdown, it was reported that Minister Park and President Choi met separately late at night, leading to a decision to maintain the consultation framework. Including the meeting scheduled for this day, the two sides have met face-to-face five times over the past three days, which appears to reflect both the government and medical community's recognition that the recent resurgence of COVID-19 has made the situation serious.

The difficulty in narrowing the gap between the two sides stems from the KMA's demand for a "complete withdrawal and renegotiation" of government policies. The KMA has labeled various government health policies?including the expansion of medical school quotas, establishment of public medical schools, coverage of herbal medicine, and promotion of telemedicine?as the "four evils." The KMA insists it will not call off the strike until the government publicly declares the withdrawal of these existing policies.

The government, on the other hand, maintains that these medical policies were not created overnight but were developed through social consensus and considerable deliberation over time, and therefore, withdrawal is absolutely unacceptable. The KMA, which includes all doctors nationwide including private practitioners as members, has announced that if negotiations remain stagnant following the second general strike on the 26th, additional strikes may be planned.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.