Highlights: South Korea: doctors' strike is growing, patients are worried. After a month of strike and resignation of thousands of interns to oppose the reform of the admission quota in universities, the strike is set to intensify. The authorities refuse to give in and must soon announce the suspension of many resigned interns. The intensification of the social movement risks further disrupting the operation of major South Korean hospitals, to the dismay of patients with serious illnesses. “When you are seriously ill, you need to get the right treatment at the right time,” says Kim Sung-ju, president of the Korea Cancer Patients' Rights Association.

South Korea: doctors' strike is growing, patients are worried

The doctors' strike is set to intensify this Monday, March 25 in South Korea. After a month of strike and resignation of thousands of interns to oppose the reform of the admission quota in universities, more experienced practitioners joined the movement. They present their resignation in the face of the government's desire to increase the number of medical students. The authorities refuse to give in and must soon announce the suspension of many resigned interns. The intensification of the social movement risks further disrupting the operation of major South Korean hospitals, to the dismay of patients with serious illnesses.

Striking doctors march in the streets of Seoul, South Korea, March 3, 2024. AP - Ahn Young-joon

By: RFI Follow

With our correspondent in Seoul

Nicolas Rocca

Ten years ago, Kim Sung-ju was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. However, he considers himself lucky, because at the worst of the illness, he did not have to face the consequences of the

social movement

in addition to his treatment:

“

For patients who really need chemotherapy, surgery or radiotherapy, almost all of these treatments are postponed. So it’s a very distressing situation. When you are seriously ill, you need to get the right treatment at the right time. There are also people who had to leave retirement homes and then died during the day.

Despite his damaged vocal cords, he carries the voice of the sick. Kim Sung-ju is the president of the Korea Cancer Patients' Rights Association. “

In other countries, doctors protest against the lack of doctors or ask the government to provide them with more resources. But here, you recruit more doctors and they abandon the patients, the interns flee and the entire medical system of the country is paralyzed, starting with the big hospitals

,” he laments.

As the social movement intensifies, Kim Sung-ju denounces the choice of university professors and experienced doctors to join the interns' strike: “

The decision to strike by professors from large hospitals and university hospitals, it is the equivalent of a captain abandoning his ship on the verge of capsizing.

As of Tuesday, the government must implement measures to suspend resigning interns.

Read alsoSouth Korea: the government raises its tone in the face of the massive strike of young doctors

South Korea: doctors' strike is growing, patients are worried

South Korea: doctors' strike is growing, patients are worried

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