Through Ju-min Park and Minwoo Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – Ryu Ok Hada always wanted to help people, but now the South Korean trainee doctor has abandoned his job and stands outside the hospital where he worked, holding his medical gown in his hand.
Park Dan, who recently realized his childhood dream of becoming an emergency doctor, is also one of more than 7,800 inmates and residents who have resigned in a standoff with the government, which threatens to arrest them.
Ryu and Park say young doctors, a crucial cog in South Korea’s prestigious medical system, are overworked, underpaid and not listened to.
Hospitals have turned away patients and canceled surgeries after about two-thirds of the country’s young doctors walked out of their jobs this month in protest.
Young doctors say their pay and working conditions should be the priority, rather than the government’s plan to increase the number of doctors. Officials say more staff are needed to boost health care services in remote areas and meet the growing demands of one of the world’s fastest-aging societies.
“The current medical system in South Korea, which is excellent, is governed by keeping cheap trainee doctors working,” Ryu, 25, told Reuters.
Senior doctors and private doctors have not withdrawn, but have held rallies urging the government to abandon its plan, with 400 people gathering in Seoul on Sunday.
But the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions is popular, with about 76% of respondents in favor, regardless of their political affiliation, according to a recent Gallup Korea poll.
TORN BETWEEN PATIENTS, POLITICS
Interns and residents in South Korea work 36-hour shifts, compared to shifts of less than 24 hours in the U.S., according to the Korean Intern Residents Association. He says half of young American doctors work 60 hours a week or less, while Korean doctors often work more than 100 hours.
Ryu said he worked more than 100 hours a week at one of the country’s most prestigious teaching hospitals, for 2 million to 4 million won ($1,500 to $3,000) a month, including overtime pay. A first-year U.S. resident earns on average about $5,000 a month, according to data from the American Medical Association.
The hospitals have not processed the resignations of the protesting doctors, who affirm that they are not on strike. The government has ordered them to return to work, threatening to arrest them or revoke their licenses, saying their collective action cannot be justified and that people’s lives must come first.
Park and other doctors say the order is unconstitutional and forces them to work against their will.
The striking doctors represent only a fraction of South Korea’s 100,000 doctors, but they may represent more than 40% of the staff at large university hospitals, performing crucial tasks in emergency rooms, intensive care units and operating rooms.
Emergency rooms at South Korea’s five largest hospitals were on “red alert” on Sunday, meaning they were running out of beds. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday that public hospitals would remain open longer and on weekends and holidays to meet demand.
Park, 33, who heads the Korea Residential Residents Association, wants authorities to add doctors to essential disciplines such as pediatrics and emergency departments in large hospitals.
Doctors want better legal protection against negligence lawsuits and changes to a system where many hospitals rely on a low-paid workforce and uninsured services to stay afloat in a country often praised for providing quality universal health coverage. at an affordable price, Park said.
He said he was torn between his patients and a government policy he implemented without listening to doctors, but he had no choice. “With pride in saving patients I came here. As many doctors say, it was heartbreaking and difficult to leave the patients.” behind,” Park said. “But the current system is distorted, so we need something better than that.”
(1 dollar = 1,329.9500 won)
(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Minwoo Park; Editing by William Mallard)