South Korea’s government is threatening to take legal action against thousands of striking junior doctors and revoke their medical licenses if they do not return to work today. 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 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.
Chidozie Chima | September 13, 2024
