Only 8.4 % of trainee specialists at 211 public hospitals nationwide had already turned up for work, according to the Health Ministry, as of Wednesday morning.
Many resigned at the start of the protest, and the government recently instructed hospitals to finalize the terminations of those who did n’t return by Monday, ultimately allowing them to find work elsewhere.
The Korean Intern Resident Association’s head, Park Dan, had threatened legal action on Wednesday by accusing hospital managers of “interfering” with young physicians ‘ efforts to find work abroad.
The reform program has a large following among the electorate, and its supporters claim that doctors are merely trying to protect their wages and social standing.
People suffering from severe illnesses, however, say they are the biggest sufferers of the attack.
Kim Sung-ju, the mind of the Korean Cancer Patients Rights Council, claimed that the apprentice doctors and the authorities were both to blame for the most recent growth.
He told AFP that the government has not presented any concrete ideas or practical solutions to the lack of trainee specialists.
It’s questionable whether the characterization of trained doctors is completely false at this point, though they have claimed they are being cast as “villains.”