South Korea declares emergency medical response amid doctors' strike

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea on Thursday declared a special emergency medical response period for two weeks in September and said it would use all available resources to ensure services, as a strike by young doctors increases strains on the medical system.

The government will also temporarily raise the fees doctors receive from health insurance around a national holiday period next week to “repay the dedication of the medical professionals even a little,” Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a televised briefing.

This includes raising by 3.5 times the examination fees specialist doctors receive at regional emergency medical centers, responsible for severe emergency patients, Han said.

South Korea’s health ministry said last week it was deploying military doctors to assist in some hospital emergency rooms due to a shortage of medical staff, but disputed a warning by some physicians that the system was on the verge of collapse.

Thousands of trainee doctors, including interns and resident doctors, walked off the job in February to protest a plan to lift medical student numbers by 2,000 a year to meet what the government projects will be a severe shortage of doctors.

Hospitals that had relied on trainee doctors across multiple medical disciplines have had to turn away patients at emergency rooms, citing a shortage of staff, while existing doctors have experienced heavier workloads, the government said.

“Many of the remaining people are complaining of fatigue. However ... we are by no means in a situation where we have to worry about medical collapse,” Han said.

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About 8,000 medical clinics and hospitals will be open nationwide daily during next week’s Chuseok, one of South Korea’s largest holidays, Han said.

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This compares with about 3,600 clinics and hospitals that opened per day during lunar New Years’ holidays earlier this year, he added.

Han also urged the public to go to local clinics depending on severity of symptoms instead of flocking to large hospitals during the holidays.

Yonhap reported on Thursday that the number of emergency room doctors has dropped 42% in 53 hospitals surveyed nationwide, with seven of the hospitals considering partial closure of emergency rooms, citing a medical professors’ association.

The health ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment.