Opened a Return Path for Residents, but Firm Stance: "No Plans to Go Back"

Prolonged Medical Dispute Over 100 Days
Allowed Resident Doctors to Resign
Resident Representative Claims "Violation of 9·4 Medical Agreement"
"Return Only If 7 Major Demands Are Met"

A medical school in Seoul on the 20th, when the results of the increased medical school admission quota distribution, which triggered conflicts between the medical community and the government, were announced. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The government has allowed residents to resign in order to resolve the ongoing crisis of resident doctors leaving training hospitals for over 100 days, effectively opening an 'exit route.' However, the resident doctors' association is maintaining a hardline stance, stating that there is "no reason to return to the hospitals."

Jeong Geun-young, former representative of residents at Bundang CHA Hospital, appeared on MBC's Kim Jong-bae's Focus on the 5th and said, "The September 4, 2020, Medical Agreement clearly stated that the government must consult with medical organizations when implementing medical policies, but this has not been followed. Under these circumstances, I believe the medical-government consultations are meaningless."

The 'September 4 Medical Agreement' was an accord between the government and the medical community made in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic response, agreeing to discuss four major medical policies, including the expansion of medical school quotas, through a government-medical community consultative body after the pandemic stabilized. Medical organizations view the government's unilateral decision to increase medical school quotas as a breach of this promise.

In response to the host's assessment that by accepting resignations, the government hopes residents will find employment at other hospitals to fill the medical gaps, Jeong firmly stated, "I don't think it will proceed that way."

Jeong, the former resident representative, explained, "Just as when we submitted our resignations at the end of February in protest against the government's current medical policies, since the government continues to push these policies, unless they are withdrawn and the Korean Intern and Resident Association's seven demands are met, I don't think we will return to the hospitals."

The seven demands submitted by the Korean Intern and Resident Association to the government are: ▲ complete repeal of medical school quota expansion and essential medical policies, ▲ establishment of an organization for scientific forecasting of physician supply and demand, ▲ expansion of specialist recruitment at training hospitals, ▲ legal measures for unavoidable medical accidents, ▲ improvement of poor resident training environments, ▲ withdrawal and apology for unfair orders to residents, and ▲ complete abolition of work commencement orders.

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