S. Korean government to revoke licences of protesting doctors from March
The South Korean authorities recommended that the protesting interns and residents return to work until February 29th, otherwise measures will be taken to suspend their licences – as stated by the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare of the Republic of Korea, Park Min-soo, TASS reports
“Starting in March, legal actions against those who have not returned to work will inevitably begin, involving the suspension of their licence for at least three months, in accordance with the [current] law and principles,” the Vice Health Minister noted.
Park Min-soo also added that the reason for the suspension of the licence will be indicated in official documents. This can have a negative impact on their career, including the possibility of employment abroad. According to his statement, the authorities will start filing cases and conducting investigations in March.
The Vice Health Minister also stated that more than 10,000 resident doctors and interns have submitted their resignations, leaving more than 9,000 people absent from the workplace. The total number of specialists in the Republic of Korea is about 13,000. In addition, medical students joined the protest, and in the first two days, almost 44 per cent of them applied for academic leave.
The reason for the protests is that novice doctors are dissatisfied with the government's plans to increase the quota for medical education at universities by 2,000 places next year. The current limit is 3,058 seats for the whole country.
