Can the Yoon Government, Which Suppressed the Cargo Solidarity Strike, Break the Invincibility of Doctors? [News SeolCham]

"Doctors engraved with the 'victory formula' disregard patients' suffering." (Economic Justice Practice Citizens' Coalition · Press conference on the 5th)

Doctors who emerged as heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic are recently being treated as troublemakers. This is due to residents collectively resigning in protest against the government's plan to increase medical school quotas by 2,000. The situation is escalating as the government has begun legal procedures such as prior notice of license suspension against residents who have not returned to medical practice despite orders to resume work. Some see the cause of this medical strike as the accumulated victorious experience of the medical community. This is the fourth time the government and medical community have clashed head-to-head. The medical community, which has repeatedly succeeded in overturning government policies, is once again taking the strong measure of striking.

On the 5th, medical staff are walking in a large hospital in Seoul.

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The first round of confrontation between the government and the medical community was the 2000 separation of prescribing and dispensing medicines incident. When the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Act including the separation of prescribing and dispensing was passed in the National Assembly in December 1999, the medical community went on a long strike. At that time, the government proposed improving residents' salaries and reducing medical school quotas to engage in dialogue with the medical community. Eventually, the separation of prescribing and dispensing was implemented in August 2020, but only after accepting the medical community's demand to gradually reduce medical school quotas by 351. This is the background behind Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, stating on a YouTube broadcast on the 1st that "If the medical school quotas had not been reduced during the separation of prescribing and dispensing and had continued until 2024, the additional number of graduates would have exceeded 6,600," arguing that the government's plan to increase quotas is not excessive.

In 2014, when the expansion of telemedicine was promoted, the policy was withdrawn due to opposition from the medical community. At that time, the Park Geun-hye administration proposed expanding non-face-to-face medical treatment to solve regional medical problems, but the medical community opposed it, fearing medical industrialization. The prosecution indicted the Korean Medical Association leadership who led the collective suspension of work for violating the Fair Trade Act, but they were acquitted in the first trial, and the telemedicine promotion plan was frustrated.

In 2020, there was also conflict between the government and the medical community, but the medical crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic weakened the government's momentum. The Moon Jae-in administration planned to increase medical school quotas by 400 annually for 10 years and establish local public medical schools, but faced opposition from doctors. At that time, tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases were emerging daily, and medical personnel were desperately needed, so the government had no choice but to surrender. The government amended the Medical Service Act Enforcement Decree to provide a re-examination opportunity to about 2,700 medical students who refused to take the national medical licensing exam and withdrew the prosecution against 10 residents and fellows who refused to comply with work orders.

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However, the medical community claims that the government has pushed policies forward while ignoring voices from the field. On the 5th, Joo Su-ho, the Korean Medical Association (KMA) Emergency Committee's Public Relations Commissioner, said at a regular briefing, "It is often said that doctors have always won against the government, but that is not true," and added, "Doctors opposed the separation of prescribing and dispensing in 2000, the medical graduate school system in 2005, and Moon Jae-in Care (health insurance coverage expansion policy) in 2017, but they did not win, and the policies were eventually implemented." If the claim that doctors always won were true, why would the separation of prescribing and dispensing, medical graduate schools, and Moon Jae-in Care have been implemented?

What will be the outcome of the fourth round, which began with the increase in medical school quotas? The Yoon Seok-yeol administration, which issued a work order for the first time in history against the Cargo Solidarity Union strike in November 2022, has pulled out the same card against the current residents' strike. The Cargo Solidarity Union, which demanded the abolition of the sunset clause on the safe freight fare system and expansion of items, lost momentum and returned to the field within half a month. Since the government has announced a tough response based on law and principles this time as well, it seems unlikely to back down even an inch.

It is also noteworthy that President Yoon was the person who secured a guilty verdict in the first trial against those who led the long medical strike in 2000. As the Seoul Central District Prosecutor, President Yoon indicted nine people, including Kim Jae-jung, president of the KMA, and Shin Sang-jin, chairman of the Medical Rights Struggle Committee, for violating the Medical Service Act and the Fair Trade Act. The first trial court sentenced Kim and Shin to one year in prison with a two-year probation. Later, in 2005, the Supreme Court sentenced Kim to one year in prison with a two-year probation, resulting in the cancellation of his medical license, which was reissued in 2009.

The current situation is also unfavorable to the medical community. Since the Medical License Cancellation Act was enforced at the end of last year, medical licenses can be canceled if a first trial sentence of imprisonment or higher is given, and with stricter reviews, the license reissuance rate plummeted from 85% in 2019 to 12.5% as of June last year. Since the authority to reissue licenses lies with the Minister of Health and Welfare, considering the current government's stance, it may be difficult to reissue licenses canceled due to the residents' strike. The government is already proceeding with prior notice of license suspension procedures against 7,854 residents who have not returned to training hospitals. If the Ministry of Health and Welfare issues three or more license suspensions, the license will be canceled.

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