SEOUL: South Korean hospitals turned away some patients and delayed surgeries on Tuesday as hundreds of trainee doctors stopped working in a protest against medical training reforms.
Almost 6,500 doctors submitted their resignations — nearly half the junior workforce — with 1,600 walking off the job, according to health ministry figures.
But South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol said the government would not back down over the “necessary” reforms, which he described as an essential measure to prepare for caring for the country’s fast-aging population.
The training reforms call for a 65 percent increase in the number of students admitted to medical schools — an additional 2,000 people a year — starting from 2025.
Seoul has been trying to increase medical school enrolments for 30 years to no avail, he said, adding that the country was at a point where “we can’t withstand another failure.”
“This increase is far short of necessary numbers to prepare the future of our nation,” he said, urging doctors not to “hold people’s lives and health hostage” with work stoppages.
The government has ordered the doctors back to work, and police have warned of arrests for instigators of the work stoppages. South Korean law limits the ability of medical staff to strike.
Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that the walkouts had already resulted in cancelations of surgeries and disruptions in medical services.
The government’s top priority is to “maintain medical emergency services and treatment for serious cases at major hospitals,” he said, to “avoid situations in which patients with serious conditions are prevented from accessing treatment.”
The Asan Medical Center in Seoul, one of the biggest general hospitals in the country, said that its emergency room was operating as normal on Tuesday but “some adjustments” were being made.
“Some surgeries have been postponed due to the ongoing situation,” the hospital’s PR wing said.
South Korea says it has one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among developed countries, and the government is pushing hard to increase the number of physicians.
Doctors have voiced fierce opposition to the government’s plan to sharply raise medical school admissions, claiming it would hurt the quality of service.
Proponents of the plan say doctors are mainly concerned reforms could erode their salaries and social status.
The plan is popular with the public, who experts suggest are tired of long wait times at hospitals, with a recent Korean Gallup poll showing over 75 percent of respondents in favor, regardless of political affiliation.
The Korean Medical Association said the government’s threats of legal action were akin to a “witch hunt” and claimed the plan would create a “Cuban-style socialist medical system.”
The Korea Association of Medical Colleges has called for a significantly lower admissions increase of 11 percent, a demand the government has rejected.
“I have submitted my resignation letter,” Park Dan, head of the Korea Interns and Residents Association, wrote Monday on Facebook.
“I am now able to abandon my dream of becoming a specialist in pediatric emergency medicine without any regrets. I have no intention of going back.”
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South Korean trainee doctors stop work to protest medical reforms
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South Korean trainee doctors stop work to protest medical reforms
- Almost 6,500 doctors submitted their resignations – nearly half the junior workforce – with 1,600 walking off the job
Argentine lawmakers approve historic labor reform promoted by President Javier Milei
BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Javier Milei scored a crucial victory in congress Friday with the approval of a sweeping labor reform aimed at radically altering labor relations in the South American country.
With 42 votes in favor, 28 against and two abstentions, the Senate passed the government-backed initiative into law. The reform seeks to modernize labor relations, lower labor costs and limit the historical power of unions.
“Historic! We have a labor modernization,” Milei said after the overhaul was approved.
Shortly before the debate began in Argentina’s upper house, clashes broke out between police and protesters participating in a demonstration organized by unions, opposition political groups and left-wing social organizations outside the Parliament building to oppose the reform. At least three people were arrested.
The bill, which grants employers greater flexibility in matters of hiring, firing, severance and collective bargaining, has drawn fierce opposition from critics who argue it would roll back measures that protect workers from abuse and Argentina’s notoriously frequent economic shocks.
“It makes me incredibly angry. Passing a law is one thing, but implementing it is another,” said Ariel Somer, a 48-year-old railway worker protesting near Congress. “In Argentina, progress only happens when workers organize. We will find ways to resist.”
Supported by allies of the ruling La Libertad Avanza party, the initiative’s approval would provide Milei with a major legislative victory. He could then showcase these profound economic reforms during his Sunday address at the opening of the ordinary sessions of Congress.
The legislation won initial support from the Senate last week, but must go back for a final vote before becoming law. The government was forced to amend a clause that halves salaries for workers on leave because of injury or illness unrelated to work, after an outcry from opposition lawmakers.
The Senate on Friday may either accept the amendment — marking the final passage of the law — or insist on the original text to reinstate the article. The former outcome is widely anticipated.
The legislative process has been fraught with tension between the governing party and the opposition. The friction boiled over last week during the bill’s debate in the lower house of Congress, as the General Confederation of Labor — Argentina’s largest trade union group — launched a 24-hour nationwide strike, while demonstrators from various leftist groups clashed with police outside Congress.
Milei considers the changes to Argentina’s half-century-old labor code crucial to his efforts to lure foreign investment, increase productivity and boost job creation in a country where about two in five workers are employed off the books.
Unions argue that the law will weaken the workers’ protections that have defined Argentina since the rise of Peronism, the country’s dominant populist political movement, in the 1940s.
Roughly 40 percent of Argentina’s 13 million registered workers belong to labor unions, according to union estimates, and many are closely allied with Peronism.
With 42 votes in favor, 28 against and two abstentions, the Senate passed the government-backed initiative into law. The reform seeks to modernize labor relations, lower labor costs and limit the historical power of unions.
“Historic! We have a labor modernization,” Milei said after the overhaul was approved.
Shortly before the debate began in Argentina’s upper house, clashes broke out between police and protesters participating in a demonstration organized by unions, opposition political groups and left-wing social organizations outside the Parliament building to oppose the reform. At least three people were arrested.
The bill, which grants employers greater flexibility in matters of hiring, firing, severance and collective bargaining, has drawn fierce opposition from critics who argue it would roll back measures that protect workers from abuse and Argentina’s notoriously frequent economic shocks.
“It makes me incredibly angry. Passing a law is one thing, but implementing it is another,” said Ariel Somer, a 48-year-old railway worker protesting near Congress. “In Argentina, progress only happens when workers organize. We will find ways to resist.”
Supported by allies of the ruling La Libertad Avanza party, the initiative’s approval would provide Milei with a major legislative victory. He could then showcase these profound economic reforms during his Sunday address at the opening of the ordinary sessions of Congress.
The legislation won initial support from the Senate last week, but must go back for a final vote before becoming law. The government was forced to amend a clause that halves salaries for workers on leave because of injury or illness unrelated to work, after an outcry from opposition lawmakers.
The Senate on Friday may either accept the amendment — marking the final passage of the law — or insist on the original text to reinstate the article. The former outcome is widely anticipated.
The legislative process has been fraught with tension between the governing party and the opposition. The friction boiled over last week during the bill’s debate in the lower house of Congress, as the General Confederation of Labor — Argentina’s largest trade union group — launched a 24-hour nationwide strike, while demonstrators from various leftist groups clashed with police outside Congress.
Milei considers the changes to Argentina’s half-century-old labor code crucial to his efforts to lure foreign investment, increase productivity and boost job creation in a country where about two in five workers are employed off the books.
Unions argue that the law will weaken the workers’ protections that have defined Argentina since the rise of Peronism, the country’s dominant populist political movement, in the 1940s.
Roughly 40 percent of Argentina’s 13 million registered workers belong to labor unions, according to union estimates, and many are closely allied with Peronism.
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