Medical workers walk in a hallway at a general hospital in Seoul on Sunday. (Yonhap)
More medical professors announced Monday plans to go on an indefinite walkout starting later this month to protest the government's medical school expansion plan.
The emergency committee of medical professors at Korea University, who also serve as senior doctors at Korea University Asan Hospital, said they would go on strike beginning July 12, demanding that the government back off from pressuring medical students and trainee doctors and engage in dialogue.
"The medical sector sought a dialogue by offering solutions and compromises, but the government has flatly ignored all that and abused its administrative order. We couldn't overlook the situation where the government is oppressing powerless students and showing no attempts to engage in talks with junior doctors," it said, without mentioning what solutions and compromises it was referring to.
The announcement comes after their peers at Yonsei University went on an indefinite strike Thursday, while medical professors at the University of Ulsan are set to go on a one-week strike beginning Thursday.
"We ask (the government) to withdraw from suppressing students from taking leave en masse and accept junior doctors' demands (regarding medical reform policies)," the statement further read.
The committee also noted that the decision was made to "protect patient safety" and "help medical professors avoid fatigue accumulated by the current medical crisis." Emergency rooms and the treatment of severely ill hospitalized patients will remain in operation, it said.
Later Monday, the emergency committee of medical professors at Chungbuk National University said it would follow suit on July 26, vowing to stand by junior doctors and medical students who are "fighting for their future."
"The health and welfare committee hearing at the National Assembly revealed that the government had unilaterally pushed for adding 2,000 slots in medical school admissions without justifiable grounds. Going on strike is to save the country's crippling health care," the committee said.
While the medical dispute shows little signs of abating, patients bearing the brunt of the protracted medical standoff are set to hold a large-scale rally on Thursday to urge doctors to return to work.
A total of 92 patient groups, including the Korea Alliance of Patients Organization, Union of Korea Breast Cancer Patient and the Korean Organization for Rare Diseases, will walk the picket line in front of the Bosingak Pavilion in Jongno-gu, central Seoul, Thursday, to appeal to doctors to end their walkout and call on the government to enact a law to prevent any recurrences.
The rally will bring together at least 1,000 participants, according to the patient groups. They warned that the demonstration would be on an "unprecedented scale" as patients have not held a rally of this scope before.
"Patient groups will no longer be willing to tolerate the ongoing conflict (between the government and doctors) where the two sides are blaming each other using patients' anxiety and suffering as a tool to bargain rather than trying to work toward resolution," they said in a statement.
Angry patients have voiced their grievances through statements appealing the immediate withdrawal of going on strike in a long-running dispute with the government as doctors continue to lash out broader strike actions. However, patients' efforts have yet to bring back junior doctors who have left their worksites since mid-February and medical professors going on strike.
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