SEOUL: South Korea’s leading doctors ‘ body on Saturday ( Apr 20 ) rejected a revised medical reform plan from the government, the initial version of which sparked a strike two months ago.
The ongoing protests by hundreds of trainee doctors have caused panic in North Korean hospitals as a result of a plan to increase annual admissions to medical colleges by 2,000 from the following year.
The government made its first concession on Friday, allowing 32 universities to accept as few as 1,000 medical students as opposed to the 2,000 that had been initially proposed, but the Korean Medical Association ( KMA ) demanded that the plan be completely abandoned within a week.
” Since this is not a essential answer, the emergency committee of the Korean Medical Association plainly states that it cannot take it,” Kim Sung-geun, a KMA director, told reporters.
” For the sake of our government’s coming and to protect the health of people now suffering, we ask the president… to start from scratch again on this. “
Kim said “one year is left” to find a solution.
According to the government’s plan, an ageing society’s ageing population may experience doctor shortages, but health professionals and trainees claim that it will lower the standard of education and healthcare.
The attack, which began on Feb 20, has forced institutions to cancel important treatments and therapies.