SEOUL: South Korea said Monday it had started procedures to suspend the medical licenses of 4,900 junior doctors who have resigned and stopped working to protest government medical training reforms, causing health care chaos.
The walkout, which started February 20, is over government plans to sharply increase the number of doctors, which it says is essential to combat shortages and South Korea’s rapidly aging population, while the medics argue it will erode service quality.
Nearly 12,000 junior doctors — 93 percent of the trainee workforce — were not in their hospitals at the last count, despite government back to work orders and threats of legal action, forcing Seoul to mobilize military medics and millions of dollars in state reserves to help.
The Health Ministry on Monday said it had sent administrative notifications — the first step to suspending the doctors’ medical licenses — to thousands of trainee doctors after they defied specific orders telling them to return to their hospitals.
“As of March 8 (notifications) have been sent to more than 4,900 trainee doctors,” Chun Byung-wang, director of the health and medical policy division at the health ministry, told reporters.
The government has previously warned striking doctors they face a three month suspension of their licenses, a punishment which, it says, will delay by at least a year their ability to qualify as specialists.
Chun urged the striking medics to return to their patients.
“The government will take into account the circumstance and protect trainee doctors if they return to work before the administrative measure is complete,” he said, indicating doctors who come back to work now could avoid the punishment.
“The government will not give up dialogue. The door for dialogue is always open ... The government will respect and listen to opinions of the medical community as a companion for the medical reforms,” he added.
The government last week announced new measures to improve pay and conditions for trainee medics, plus a review of the continuous 36-hour work period, which is a major gripe of junior doctors.
The strikes have led to surgery cancelations, long wait times and delayed treatments at major hospitals.
Seoul has mobilized military doctors and earmarked millions of dollars of state reserves to ease service shortfalls, but has denied that there is a full-blown health care crisis.
Military doctors will start working in civilian hospitals from Wednesday this week, Chun said.
Under South Korean law, doctors are restricted from striking, and the health ministry has asked police to investigate people connected to the work stoppage.
The government is pushing to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools annually from next year to address what it calls one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among developed nations.
Doctors say they fear the reform will erode the quality of service and medical education, but proponents accuse medics of trying to safeguard their salaries and social status.
South Korea starts procedures to suspend licenses of 4,900 striking doctors
https://arab.news/4pj3q
South Korea starts procedures to suspend licenses of 4,900 striking doctors
- Nearly 12,000 junior doctors – 93 percent of the trainee workforce – are not in their hospitals at the last count
- Work stoppage forces Seoul to mobilize military medics and millions of dollars in state reserves to help
Trump says Australia will grant asylum to Iran women footballers
MIAMI: US President Donald Trump said Monday that Australia had agreed to grant asylum to some of Iran’s visiting women’s football team, amid fears they could face retaliation back home for not singing the national anthem before a match.
The gesture ahead of the team’s Asian Cup match against South Korea last week was seen by many as an act of defiance against the Islamic republic just two days after the United States and Israel attacked it.
“I just spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, of Australia, concerning the Iranian National Women’s Soccer Team. He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of,” Trump said Monday on his Truth Social network, less than two hours after an initial post urging Australia to take them in.
Trump added that “some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.”
There was no immediate comment from the Australian government, which has so far declined to say whether it could offer the players asylum.
Asked about their case on Sunday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Australia “stands in solidarity” with the people of Iran.
The son of Iran’s late shah, US-based Reza Pahlavi, warned on Monday that the refusal to sing the anthem could have “dire consequences,” and urged Australia to offer the team protection.
Trump then weighed in, pressing Albanese to “give ASYLUM” to the team and adding: “The US will take them if you won’t.”
“Australia is making a terrible humanitarian mistake by allowing the Iran National Woman’s Soccer team to be forced back to Iran, where they will most likely be killed,” the US leader said on Truth Social.
Pahlavi, who has not returned to Iran since before the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the monarchy, has billed himself as the man to lead a democratic transition to a secular Iran as the theocratic regime fights to survive.
Politicians, human rights activists and even “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling have also called for the team to be offered official protection.
“Please, protect these young women,” Rowling said in a post on social media.
‘Save our girls’
A presenter on Iranian state TV had branded the players “wartime traitors” after they stood motionless during the anthem before their match against South Korea.
In subsequent games, the players saluted and sang.
Crowds gathered outside the Gold Coast stadium where the side played their last match over the weekend, banging drums and shouting “regime change for Iran.”
They then surrounded the Iranian team bus, chanting “let them go” and “save our girls.”
On Monday, an AFP journalist saw members of the team speaking on phones from their balcony of their hotel.
Asked about the possibility of granted asylum, a spokesperson for Australia’s Home Affairs department told AFP earlier it “cannot comment on the circumstances of individuals.”
Amnesty International campaigner Zaki Haidari said they faced persecution, or worse, if they were sent home.
“Some of these team members probably have had their families already threatened,” Haidari told AFP.
“Them going back... who knows what sort of punishment they will receive?“
Despite being heavily monitored, the side would have a “small window of opportunity” to seek asylum at the airport, he said.
Iran’s embassy in Australia did not respond to a request for comment.
