South Korea’s healthcare system teeters as doctors’ strike drags on with no end in sight

Observers warn the months-long strike may continue indefinitely unless the government demonstrates greater willingness to negotiate drastically increasing medical school admission quotas and address other key issues facing healthcare professionals.

“The government must show flexibility and a more accommodating attitude to woo striking doctors to the dialogue table,” said Choi Jin, head of the Institute for Presidential Leadership think tank in Seoul.

“Otherwise, the light at the end of the tunnel is nowhere to be seen.”

On Monday, a group of medical professors at the prestigious Seoul National University Hospital launched an “indefinite” strike, demanding the government withdraw its plan to increase medical school admission quotas.

Medical professors from other key medical universities have vowed to join the strike.

“As the government is responsible for protecting the lives and health of the people, it has no choice but to deal strictly with illegal acts that are abandoning patients,” he said at a cabinet meeting.

The months-long dispute was triggered by the government’s decision to drastically increase the annual medical school admission quota. Critics called the announcement premature and said it failed to address shortages of lecturers and in teaching infrastructure.

Doctors are furious at the government’s heavy-handed tactics, including threats to suspend doctors’ licenses, to unilaterally push through the increase in medical school admissions, Hwang Gyu-suk, head of the Seoul Medical Association, told This Week in Asia.

“As their senior fellows, we tried to persuade the trainee doctors to come back but they wouldn’t budge an inch,” said Hwang, who was en route to a large rally by doctors and their families near the National