S Korea trainee doctors resign to protest plan to add more physicians

SEOUL: The South Korean government warned on Friday that trainee doctors were putting public health at risk after more than 150 tendered their resignations to protest a government plan to admit more students to medical schools.

The health ministry said it had issued a back-to-work order to the 154 doctors at seven hospitals, warning that refusing to comply will result in punishment.

The government plans to raise medical school admissions by 2,000 students for the 2025 academic year and to add 10,000 doctors by 2035. Currently, about 3,000 students enter medical schools each year.

The plan has drawn intense protests from doctors and medical students, who say increasing the number of physicians would prompt unnecessary medical care and worsen the finances of the national health insurance plan.

Earlier, trainee doctors at the country’s five biggest hospitals, all in Seoul, decided to resign effective Tuesday, the head of the Korea Interns and Residents Association (KIRA), Park Dan, said in a statement.

Media reports estimated the move would involve about 2,700 doctors, about a fifth of the country’s medical interns and resident doctors. The system relies on them for emergency and acute healthcare.

The government said any collective action by doctors is illegal and it will respond firmly to strikes or refusals to work. It vowed to go ahead with the plan to increase doctors, which polls show have strong public support.