Articles by Park Jun-hee
Park Jun-hee
junheee@heraldcorp.com-
[From the Scene] Day of Rage: Doctors resist pressure to bend
Expressing frustration and anger at the South Korean government’s recent decision to increase the annual medical school quota by 2,000 starting in 2025, tens of thousands of doctors, interns, residents and medical students walked the picket line Sunday afternoon to urge a reversal of the planned hike. Chants of “Let’s fight together, let’s win together” reverberated through the crowd, reflecting determination even as the government has issued repeated warnings that
Social Affairs March 3, 2024
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[KH Explains] Why doctors refuse to bend despite lack of public support
The recent mass walkout by junior doctors has led to unprecedented disruptions in South Korea’s otherwise well-regarded medical system. Both the government and doctors’ groups have refused to bend over plans to increase the number of places at medical schools. Both sides amped up their publicity efforts rather than actively seeking a compromise, as the government’s Thursday deadline for junior doctors to return to work loomed. The government has reiterated the need for medica
Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2024
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Police launch probe against 5 protesting doctors
Police said Wednesday they launched an investigation against five protesting doctors affiliated with the Korea Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors’ group, for charges of breaching medical law. Officials added that the case had been assigned to the public crime investigation division under the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The announcement came a day after the health ministry filed complaints against the five, marking the first instance of legal action taken against
Social Affairs Feb. 28, 2024
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As criticism mounts, med students engage in community service
As negative sentiment continues to build toward the medical sector after junior doctors walked out of hospitals and training programs in protest of the government’s decision to increase the annual medical school enrollment quota, medical students said they would engage in community service while taking time off from their studies. An emergency response committee at Yonsei University College of Medicine on Monday kicked off volunteering activities to provide free meals for the elderly, dist
Social Affairs Feb. 27, 2024
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[From the Scene] 12 hours to get ER treatment -- it could get worse
Kim, a mother in her 30s, arrived at Seoul National University Hospital’s emergency room on 5 a.m., Friday, after her preschool son’s temperature surged at midnight and he was losing energy. But she was not able to meet a doctor until 3 p.m., after almost 12 hours waiting on a bench outside of the ER with her crying son. “(My son) wasn’t feeling well last night. His temperature went too high, his face got red and he was sweating for days, so ... (I had to come here),&rdqu
Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2024
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Health care crisis hits highest level amid doctor walkout
The South Korean government said it has elevated the health care crisis level to the highest position, as of Friday at 8 a.m., in response to the collective walkout of junior doctors as they show little signs of returning. The highest level of seriousness in the four-tier warning system had previously been issued during the COVID-19 pandemic over a spike in confirmed cases, but this is the first time the government has lifted the gauge to seriousness regarding health care. In an effort to minimi
Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2024
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Key doctors’ group to hold mass protest on March 3
The major lobby group for doctors said Thursday that it would stage a massive rally in Seoul with all of its members from across the county on March 3 to protest the government’s move to significantly increase the number of seats at medical schools. The demonstration, initially set for March 10, was moved up at the doctors’ urging, according to the Korean Medical Association, the largest group of doctors here with some 140,000 members. As the two sides continue to lock horns over the
Social Affairs Feb. 22, 2024
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Number of surgeries halved as hospitals suffer from strike
The number of surgeries being performed at Seoul’s “Big Five” hospitals was reduced by 30 to 50 percent due to a staff shortage over junior doctors’ resignation en masse on Wednesday, putting patients’ health at risk amid escalating confrontation between doctors and the government. Severance Hospital reduced its operations by 50 percent, while Samsung Medical Center, Asan Medical Center and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital said they had canceled around 30 percent of
Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2024
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[News Focus] Why do Korean doctors oppose having more physicians?
Thousands of medical doctors, the essential force for the care and treatment of critical patients, left their hospitals Tuesday in protest of the government’s policy to expand the number of medical school students. South Korea’s medical landscape has been gripped with the fear of a major health care crisis, with doctors leaving their patients, claiming that the nation does not need more doctors because it has enough already and that the policy change will lower the quality of medical
Social Affairs Feb. 20, 2024
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Patients on edge as doctors prepare for hospital walkout
Medical institutions were in a frantic dash Monday morning as junior doctors at Seoul’s “Big Five” hospitals moved to tender their resignation letters en masse Monday and walk out of their jobs on Tuesday at 6 a.m. in protest against the government’s planned hike in medical school enrollment quota. With a face full of worry, a woman in her 60s grabbed onto medical personnel at the main lobby of Severance Hospital in Seodaemun-gu, western Seoul, asking if she would be able
Social Affairs Feb. 19, 2024
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Govt. urges restraint as junior doctors plan joint action
The Korean government on Sunday issued a public plea urging doctors to abstain from joint action that could disrupt nationwide medical services. The statement comes as interns and residents prepare to stage a walkout this week in protest against the government’s decision to increase medical school enrollment quotas by over 60 percent. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo urged junior doctors to reconsider taking their gowns off, saying that citizens would have to bear the brunt of collective action
Social Affairs Feb. 18, 2024
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[From the Scene] ‘South Korea’s health care died on Feb. 6’
Unleashing pent-up anger against the government’s decision to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 from the current 3,058, hundreds of doctors from the Seoul Medical Association, along with medical students, interns and residents and their families, walked the picket line on Thursday to urge a reversal of the planned hike. The picket was part of massive protests staged by doctors’ groups nationwide beginning Tuesday, marking the first collective action by doctors gro
Social Affairs Feb. 16, 2024
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Ministry downplays risk of doctors’ strike despite growing calls for action
While medical circles have shown signs of momentum for collective action across the country, the Health Ministry on Thursday downplayed the possibility of them walking out of school campuses and jobs, saying it judges the likelihood of a full-scale joint action as “very low.” Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo said during Thursday’s press briefing that the ministry has seen no movements at this point, adding that reports that junior doctors have submitted t
Social Affairs Feb. 15, 2024
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Med students mull strike over student quota expansion
With doctors groups still mulling a strike, incumbent medical students are also mulling collective action in protest of the government’s announcement last week of an increase in the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 from the current 3,058. The Korea Association of Medical Colleges, a group of current medical students, held an all-night online meeting earlier in the day, attended by representatives of each university’s medical school, to discuss submitting for leave of absence,
Social Affairs Feb. 14, 2024
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Under pressure, junior doctors leave strike decision hanging
Tensions continued to build Tuesday between doctors and the government, with a group of over 10,000 junior doctors ending their first discussion about joining the nationwide strike without reaching a conclusion. Instead, they decided to forge an emergency committee in an apparent move to escalate their offensive against the government plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota. The Korea Intern Resident Association, consisting of thousands of junior doctors essential to the critical ca
Social Affairs Feb. 13, 2024
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