Prime Minister Han Requests Those with Mild Symptoms to Use Clinics Instead of Large Hospitals

"Despite Earnest Appeals, Residents Leave Patients Behind"
"Best Efforts to End Collective Action"

On the 19th, amid growing concerns of a 'medical crisis' due to collective resignations by residents at five major domestic hospitals and widespread opposition from doctors, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo is speaking at a ministerial meeting on doctors' collective actions held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated on the 20th that chaos is increasing mainly in large hospitals due to the collective action of resident doctors, and said, "We would appreciate it if those among the public with relatively mild symptoms could use clinics and hospitals that are operating normally instead of large hospitals."

In a post on his social media (SNS) that afternoon, Prime Minister Han said, "Despite the government's earnest appeal, resident doctors across various hospitals nationwide are leaving hospitals while patients are still there."

He added, "Each hospital is prioritizing critically ill and emergency patients and is doing its utmost to adjust treatment schedules, but unfortunately, some patients are experiencing disruptions in their treatment schedules," emphasizing, "the government is operating an emergency public healthcare system and is continuously monitoring and inspecting the situation on the medical frontlines."

Prime Minister Han said, "The medical staff remaining at the medical sites are silently bearing the heavy workload of two or three people, filling the vacancies left by those who have left the hospitals," and urged the public to use clinics and hospitals instead of large hospitals, which are in turmoil due to the departure of resident doctors, to help ease their burden even a little.

He stated, "That is a way to support and encourage those who are working by the patients' side," and emphasized, "I believe our citizens will make small concessions for more severe patients so that the medical staff remaining in hospitals do not become exhausted."

Prime Minister Han reiterated the government's position that although collective action by the medical community continues in opposition to government medical reform, increasing the number of medical school admissions is inevitable.

He said, "Increasing medical school admissions is part of medical reform for doctors, patients, and all our citizens," and added, "The government has judged this as an urgent task that cannot be postponed any longer and has embarked on this work."

He continued, "If things continue as they are, the reality in the Republic of Korea is that there will be a shortage of 15,000 doctors in less than 10 years. If the medical community proposes better alternatives, we will accept them," and added, "The government will do its best to respond so that the medical community's collective action can be reasonably concluded within a short period."

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