(LEAD) Gov't expected to announce measures against defiant trainee doctors

National 14:29 July 07, 2024

(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with details throughout; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, July 7 (Yonhap) -- The government is expected to announce measures as early as Monday to deal with trainee doctors who refuse to return to hospitals in protest of medical reform, according to officials on Sunday.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong is scheduled to hold a press conference on Monday, during which he will announce the measures, the officials said.

The government has been weighing measures on how to respond to the junior doctors who have left their worksites since late February, with most of them remaining unresponsive to the government's appeasement measures to help them return to hospitals.

Cho had earlier pledged to introduce such measures in early July, as hospitals need to prepare for the recruitment of new junior doctors who will begin training in September.

This file photo, taken July 5, 2024, shows a sign at a hospital in Seoul, saying that trainee doctors have left work for four months. (Yonhap)

As of Thursday, 1,104 junior doctors, or 8 percent of 13,756 trainee doctors, were on duty at the country's 211 training hospitals, according to government data.

Trainee doctors have been on strike for nearly five months in protest against a hike in medical student admissions, the first such increase in 27 years, which was finalized in May.

The government initially instructed hospitals not to accept trainee doctors' resignations to prevent them from seeking other jobs but reversed this order in late June to normalize operations.

As the protracted walkout by trainee doctors has shown little signs of ending, medical professors, who also serve as senior doctors at general hospitals, began staging walkouts and other forms of protest.