S Korea to take steps to suspend the licenses of striking trainee doctors

Seems like a huge failure of diplomacy, the strikers are well supported between doctors (no surprises there, a lot of privileges will be lost) but the population in general support the government instead (also not surprising since the changes supposedly would make medical services cheaper and more accessible) but even with these conflicting positions a low of common ground could have been used to de-escalate the problem and find a solution even if neither side would get 100% of what they want.

Instead things seems to be getting more and more dire, and as usual the ones losing the most are the people that already have poor access to medical help.

As I mentioned in another thread, Japan should poach these trainee doctors ( to address the shortage here), sponsor their studies here and after that, make them sign a bond to work in Japanese hospitals for 5 -10 years.

After that, they're free to go back to Korea as established doctors.

After all, if the S. Korean government and doctors don't want them ( for fear of losing privileges), Japan, a disaster-prone country which has a constant need for healthcare professionals, should extend a helping hand.

One person's poison is another person's meat.

So the South Korean government's answer to the doctor shortages in hospitals is to...suspend the licenses of trainee doctors? That makes sense...not.

There should be consequences for these doctors as they know they are striking illegally. You can't just let people get away with breaking the law, because they dont like the change in circumstances.

purple_depressed_baconToday  04:23 pm JST

So the South Korean government's answer to the doctor shortages in hospitals is to...suspend the licenses of trainee doctors? That makes sense...not.

Those doctors are on strike, and illegally so. They're not working now anyway.

I'm sure that if they agree to end the strike and go back to work, the license suspensions will be lifted.

What else is the Korean government supposed to do? End the reforms, as the doctors demand?

No, they shouldn't do that, because they're needed and (as the article says) the vast majority of the South Korean public supports them.

SK government showing how NOT to deal with an industrial dispute.

How on earth would arresting thousands of medical professionals in the midst of a chronic shortage of them help the situation?

The SK government has 2 options.

Sit down with these professionals and come to a compromise. Or,

Import thousands of doctors from overseas - likely from SE Asia - and grant them immediate PR.

It's one or the other.

There should be consequences for these doctors as they know they are striking illegally. You can't just let people get away with breaking the law, because they dont like the change in circumstances.

Yeah right. How about locking them up and then banning them for life from practising medicine, in the middle of a medical staff shortage crisis?

Can you actually see the problem with that?

The idiom/metaphor to take or lead a horse to water.........

Quote... the meaning in its most obvious, purest form "you can do everything in your power to help someone, but you can't force them to accept your help no matter how much you are convinced that “it” will help them".

A proverb essential in business negotiation, that impacts life choices in the most significant ways.

Intense anger creates a false belief that its weak to take a step back. To be empathetic non-judgmental, to soften one language, to withdraw, to offer the least course of resistance.

Offer no single response that hastens consequences that could be construed to taking a wet razor to "cut off one's nose to spite one's face"

Offer the "striking trainee doctors" a compromise, a future that combines a "licence" to practice medicine, at the same time a programme that safeguards patients safety whist introducing reforms.

Polling shows up to 75 percent of the public support the reforms

If correct, then leverage through a media champaign that forces a recognition that confronts transferring responsibilities of outcomes directly onto the trainee doctors.

It sounds like the SK doctors are more concerned with maintaining a shortage of doctors, and thus maintaining higher wages (?), than they are about improving patient care.

That decision would be a disaster for the country as those doctors would move to other countries for their living which is not even difficult these days as technically trained people are in demand in the west.

Good.

This is nuts. In most countries, health professionals and unions are urging an expansion of training to fill gaps.

I'm not a fan of strikes. If you don't like the terms of your employment, find work elsewhere. But the government response, suspending them or threatening to imprison them is also nuts. They will have even fewer doctors soon.

Faced with that sort of government response, I'd just go work abroad. Any South Korean medics who speak English would be welcome in the NHS. Plus you get to strike regularly, legally.

Training in SK can only be increased if there are enough tutors. Politicians usually pluck numbers out of thin air for this sort of thing, so the quotas will not be met. The rise doesn't seem that high given the context.

Maybe everyone should cool down a bit and seek arbitration. And keep the politicians away from it, as they will just use it to win votes.

The true face of the Yoon administration reveals itself.

@virusrex

since the changes supposedly would make medical services cheaper and more accessible

This is not the case. The public wants to double the chance of their children going to medical schools and land that $400K/year sweet sweet jobs.

@Wesley

Japan should poach these trainee doctors

There is no chance of Korean doctors moving to Japan since doctor's wage in Japan is significantly lower than the wages in Korea.

@purple_depressed_bacon

That makes sense...not.

That's the Yoon administration for you.

@Fighto!

Import thousands of doctors from overseas - likely from SE Asia - and grant them immediate PR.

Importing doctors is not possible because all doctors working in Korea must hold Korean medical license.

@1glenn

It sounds like the SK doctors are more concerned with maintaining a shortage of doctors, and thus maintaining higher wages (?), than they are about improving patient care.

That's the case. From their perspective, these trainee doctors worked their butts off to get where they are and are looking forward to their $400K/year life, and Yoon comes in and takes it all away by flooding the market with doctors.

@Jaswinder Sandhu

That decision would be a disaster for the country as those doctors would move to other countries

Very few countries pay Korean doctor's wages, the US maybe, but nowhere else. It was amazing that Korea was able to keep its healthcare cost affordable while still paying $400K/year average salary to doctors.