Voting on Resident Return Decisions by Hospital: "Seoul Asan and Seoul National University Hospitals to Return on the 8th"

After the Resignation of All Daejeon Medical Association Executives... Medical Community Turmoil Continues

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), which had continued an indefinite collective strike opposing the expansion of medical school quotas and the establishment of public medical schools, decided on the 8th to return to work. However, some residents still strongly demand the continuation of the strike, plunging the medical community into confusion. Ultimately, the KIRA Emergency Response Committee, which decided to return to work, took responsibility for not fully reflecting the opinions of all residents on the 7th and decided that the entire executive team, including the chairman, would resign. Hospitals are now deciding whether to return to work through votes.

According to the medical community on the 7th, with the dissolution of the KIRA executive team, each hospital's emergency committee is collecting opinions for and against returning to work through votes on the 8th. On the same day, Park Ji-hyun, chairman of the KIRA Emergency Response Committee, stated at a meeting with all residents in the afternoon, "Considering various circumstances, we will lower the collective action to stage 1 starting from 7 a.m. on the 8th," adding, "This is the official position of the emergency committee." Stage 1 collective action means all residents return to work while maintaining the hospital-level emergency committees.

Accordingly, hospitals are conducting votes on whether to return to work. The Seoul Asan Medical Center Resident Emergency Committee held a delegate meeting on the 7th, conducted a vote among all residents, and decided to return to the hospital from 7 a.m. on the 8th. The resident, fellow, and professor emergency committees of Seoul Asan Medical Center jointly issued a statement saying, "Considering the decision of the Young Doctors' Solidarity and the serious national situation, we will return," and urged, "The government should faithfully implement the agreement."

The Seoul National University Hospital Resident Emergency Committee also collected internal opinions on ending the strike through a vote on the afternoon of the 7th and decided that all would return to the hospital at 7 a.m. on the 8th. At Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, some residents expressed their intention to return to work, and they were notified to undergo testing for the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The resident emergency committee at Shinchon Severance Hospital is also holding meetings to discuss related matters.

A representative from a major hospital in Seoul said, "Although KIRA said it would return to work on the 8th, some hardline residents are insisting on maintaining the strike, and medical students' collective actions are continuing, so it is uncertain whether the return to work will be guaranteed." He added, "I understand that many training hospitals are conducting votes on whether to end the strike," and said, "A clear outline is expected to emerge by tomorrow morning."

Meanwhile, the strike rate among residents was reported to be as high as 73% on the day. The Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed that among 9,235 residents affiliated with 147 out of 200 training institutions, 6,725 (72.8%) were not working. Among 2,329 fellows, 447 were not working, resulting in a strike rate of 19.2%.

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