Yoon: "Ensuring Citizens Receive Timely and Proper Treatment Is the Core of Welfare and a Constitutional Duty of the State"

President Yoon Chairs Senior Secretary Meeting

President Yoon Suk-yeol said on the 26th, "The core of welfare is to ensure that the people receive timely and proper treatment when they are sick, and this is a constitutional duty of the state."

President Yoon made these remarks during the senior secretaries' meeting he presided over that morning, according to a written briefing by Kim Soo-kyung, spokesperson for the Presidential Office.

This statement reflects the government's intention to do its utmost to prevent any gaps in public healthcare amid doctors' collective actions. It is also interpreted as a firm stance against doctors who have left the medical field, demanding the cancellation of decisions such as the expansion of medical school quotas.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a written inspection of 100 major training hospitals revealed that as of 7 p.m. on the 23rd, 10,034 residents, accounting for 80.5% of the total, had submitted their resignation letters. Severance Hospital has reduced its surgery schedule by more than half, while Samsung Seoul Hospital and Seoul Asan Hospital are adjusting their schedules by 40-50%.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The government is also emphasizing the return to work for doctors who have left the field. On the same day, Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min warned at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters (CDSCH) meeting held at the Government Seoul Office, "The collective action by residents that began last week has intensified confusion in the medical field, posing a real threat to patients' lives and health," adding, "If you return to the hospitals you left by the 29th, you will not be held accountable for past actions."

Starting next month, the government’s position is that for doctors who do not return, a minimum three-month license suspension and related legal procedures will be unavoidable according to law and principles, with additional judicial actions such as investigation and prosecution also possible.

Furthermore, to prevent patient inconvenience caused by the residents' work absence, the government has fully permitted non-face-to-face medical consultations since the 23rd, and from the 27th, plans to implement a 'Medical Support Personnel Pilot Project' targeting nurses working in general and training hospitals. Accordingly, the scope of tasks that nurses can perform will be determined by the head of the medical institution through an internal committee or in consultation with the head of the nursing department.

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