It is known that medical students who oppose the increase of 2,000 medical school students have requested support from overseas medical student organizations.
On the 4th, the Korean Medical University and Medical Graduate Student Association (KMSA) released a statement to the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA) on SNS.
In the statement, the association strongly criticized the government for increasing the number of medical students and asked for help. “The (Korean) government is becoming more and more tyrannical, imposing orders and threats, and making doctors and medical students look like they are doing something wrong,” the association said in a statement. “The highly controversial ‘essential medical policy package’ was abruptly announced by the government, and medical doctors resigned and medical students gathered to take an alliance leave of absence. We believe that the (essential medical policy) package is based on incorrect data and incomplete assumptions and does not solve the problems of the current Korean medical system at all,” it said. “We believe that education should not be a medium for populism. We believe that the government should show a democratic attitude instead of suppressing and silencing the voices of medical students and doctors,” it added. “We hope for support while we fight for the health of our people.” IFMSA, which the association requested in a statement, is an international medical student organization established in 1951 and is attended by more than 1.3 million medical students in 130 countries around the world.The IFMSA has yet to make an official statement on the matter. The Korean government has requested doctors who left the medical field to return to the medical field against the policy of increasing the number of medical school students, but only 4.3 percent (565) of the medical field have returned to the medical field by the deadline of April 29. It is the 10th day of group departure and the last day of the government’s proposed deadline for return.
Prime Minister Han Deok-soo stressed on the 3rd, “It has been three days since the government requested the return of doctors, but most of them are not returning.” “If the situation of illegally leaving the medical field continues, the government will fulfill the government’s obligations given by the Constitution and laws without hesitation.” Under the current medical law, the government allows medical personnel to suspend medical treatment without justifiable reasons or if the founders of medical institutions close or close their businesses collectively. Violation of this could result in suspension of licenses for up to three months to one year, imprisonment for up to three years, and a fine of up to 30 million won. If you are sentenced to more than a safe, your license may be revoked. The government’s judicial action against senior doctors has already begun. The police executed a search and seizure warrant for the Korean Medical Association and the offices of the Seoul Medical Association on the 1st, and implemented a ban on four incumbent executives of the medical association. From the 4th, the government plans to conduct on-site inspections at major hospitals nationwide to check for violations of the order to commence work, and to take measures according to the law without relief to residents who have been confirmed to have violated.Meanwhile, as a result of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s inspection of 100 training hospitals at 11 p.m. on February 29, the number of majors who left their workplaces was 8,945, of which 7854 requested a confirmation of non-compliance with the order to commence work.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
