Future United Party Urges Medical Community to Stop Strike... Calls on Government to End Division

Joo Ho-young, floor leader of the United Future Party, is speaking at the Emergency Measures Committee Chairman-Senior Lawmakers meeting held at the National Assembly on the 26th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

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[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] As the Korea Medical Association has entered a collective strike in opposition to the government's medical policies, the United Future Party on the 27th urged residents and fellows to stop the total medical strike and called on the government to resolve the issue through negotiations.

Joo Ho-young, the floor leader of the United Future Party, posted on his Facebook on the same day a post titled "Five Reasons Why the Government Should Back Down from the Doctors' Strike," pointing out, "While the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has sharply increased by more than 440 today, the government is waging an all-out battle against doctors who should be fully devoted to COVID-19 prevention."

Floor leader Joo said, "Above all, doctors must be quickly sent back to the COVID pandemic frontlines. Discussions on medical policies can be resumed after stabilizing the COVID situation without delay," adding, "Doctors are the key players in the world's top-level insurance-medical-prevention system. They should not be troubled by being forced to accept half-baked medical policies without receiving rewards or praise."

He continued, "The gap between the government and the Medical Association has significantly narrowed. The Medical Association demands the 'complete withdrawal' of four medical policies, while the government talks about 'postponement until the end of COVID,'" and said, "I hope the government will take a grand national approach to resolve the conflict and focus on COVID prevention."

United Future Party lawmaker Kwon Young-se also posted on his Facebook that day, arguing, "The government should withdraw the unfair public medical school policy, and the medical community should stop the strike."

Lawmaker Kwon emphasized to the government and ruling party, "They must not fall into the temptation of viewing the conflict as a political purpose or as part of a dirty divide-and-conquer tactic," and stressed, "There should be no fighting at the expense of the people's lives."

Seong Il-jong, a member of the United Future Party's emergency committee, appeared on KBS Radio's 'Kim Kyung-rae's Strongest Current Affairs' that morning and said, "In the urgent COVID situation, strikes are undesirable under any circumstances," and added, "The government should take a relaxed stance to create an atmosphere for negotiations."

He further stated, "Among all roles related to COVID-19 so far, medical staff have played a major role," and emphasized, "Considering all the merits and demerits they have done so far, the government should first create an atmosphere to acknowledge what should be acknowledged and bring them to the negotiation table."

On the afternoon of the 26th, the first day of the second nationwide doctors' strike, citizens visiting the hospital pass in front of gowns taken off by medical staff at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi-do.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

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Professor Kim Geun-sik of Gyeongnam National University, affiliated with the United Future Party, also emphasized the importance of the government's efforts to resolve the total strike by medical staff.

Through his Facebook, he said, "It is absolutely necessary for doctors to return unconditionally to the medical field during the severe COVID situation," but added, "However, when the quarantine was breached, the government linked participants of the August 15 Gwanghwamun rally and the opposition party as scapegoats for the quarantine failure, and now it is trying to put all the responsibility on the striking doctors."

Professor Kim pointed out, "If the withdrawal of the strike is urgent, the government must make efforts to end the strike at any cost," but criticized, "The current government seems to be provoking the striking doctors and stirring public anxiety to make them scapegoats for the quarantine failure rather than trying to end the strike."

He added, "Even though the strike is obvious, the government officially pushed forward the public medical school plan abruptly during the height of COVID prevention, leading to conspiracy theories that the government itself provoked the doctors' strike," and said, "The Moon administration had plans in place to prepare for the spread of COVID. Please stop looking for scapegoats and prepare a plan for successful prevention."

Meanwhile, the government announced it would take legal action against the medical strike. Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, said at an emergency briefing on the morning of the 26th, "We have no choice but to take necessary legal measures such as work commencement orders to prevent risks to the lives and safety of the people," and announced, "As of 8 a.m. on August 26, the government will issue work commencement orders targeting residents and fellows working at training hospitals located in the metropolitan area."

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