South Korean govt threatens striking doctors with legal action, license cancellation

South Korea’s government is threatening to take legal action against thousands of striking junior doctors and revoke their medical licences if they do not return to work on Thursday.

Around three-quarters of the country’s junior doctors have walked out of their jobs over the past week, causing disruption and delays to surgeries at major teaching hospitals.

The trainee doctors are protesting government plans to admit drastically more medical students to university each year, to increase the number of doctors in the system.

South Korea has one of the lowest doctor-to-patient ratios among developed countries, and with a rapidly aging of the population, the government is warning there will be an acute shortage within a decade.

The empty corridors of St Mary’s Hospital in Seoul this week gave a glimpse of what that future might look like. There was barely a doctor or patient to be seen in the triage area outside the emergency room, with patients warned to stay away.

The government has said the patient in question had terminal cancer and her death was unrelated to the walkout.

Patience with the doctors is running out from both the public and the healthcare workers needing to pick up the extra work. Nurses have warned they are being forced to carry out procedures in operating theatres that would normally fall to their doctor colleagues.

Under the government’s proposals, the number of medical students admitted to university next year would rise from 3,000 to 5,000. The striking doctors argue that training more physicians would dilute the quality of care, because it would mean giving medical licenses to less competent practitioners.

But the doctors are struggling to convince the public that more doctors would be a bad thing and have garnered little sympathy.

The vice-health minister Park Min-soo has said those who miss the deadline will also have their licences suspended for a minimum of three months.

The government has said it will start proceedings on Monday.