SOUTH Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met the leader of a strike by thousands of junior doctors today and said the government is open to talks about its contentious push to sharply increase medical school admissions.
The meeting was the first of its kind since more than 90 per cent of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors walked off the job in February, disrupting hospital operations. But there was still no immediate report of a breakthrough after the meeting.
During a lengthy televised public address on Monday, Mr Yoon defended his plan to recruit 2,000 more medical students each year, from the current cap of 3,058.
But he said his government remains open to talks if doctors come up with a unified proposal that gives logical reasons for their calls for a much smaller hike of the enrolment quota.
Mr Yoon met Park Dan, head of an emergency committee for the Korea Intern Resident Association, for more than two hours today, during which the president said he would “respect the position of trainee doctors in the event of talks with the medical circle on medical reform issues including an increase of doctors.”
The president’s office didn’t say whether the government plans any immediate talks with the doctors and whether Mr Yoon’s comments would mean he’s willing to lower the size of his proposed medical school admission increase.
The strikers have earlier demanded the government withdraw the 2,000-student admission increase plan.
In a brief Facebook message posted after the meeting, Mr Park wrote that “there is no future for the medical service of the Republic of Korea.”
Another striker, Ryu Ok Hada, earlier accused Mr Park of having unilaterally met with Yoon without approval from fellow strikers.
During the meeting, Mr Yoon also listened to Mr Park’s views on problems facing South Korea’s medical system, and the two exchanged opinions on how to improve working conditions for interns and medical residents, Mr Yoon’s office said in a statement.
Mr Yoon has said the 2,000-student enrolment increase is the minimum necessary, given that South Korea has one of the world’s most rapidly ageing populations and its doctor-to-patient ratio is the lowest among advanced economies.
But many doctors have argued that universities can’t deal with such an abrupt increase in the number of students, and that it would ultimately undermine the quality of the country’s medical services.
Critics say doctors, one of the best-paid professions in South Korea, simply worry that the supply of more doctors would result in lower future incomes.
