The major’s reaction was ‘?’ Just one letter… “Professors cannot represent us” voices
Establishing a ‘single window’ for the medical community is also a necessity… Residents, professors, and medical associations each make their own claims
The government refuses to accept the request to cancel the 2,000-person increase… “I think we’ve come too far to come up with a deal.”
‘Major vacancy’
(Seoul = Larose.VIP) Reporter Kim Jan-di = The government is actively promoting dialogue with the medical community to find a solution to the mass resignation of medical residents, but the residents involved are consistently ‘non-responsive’, casting a cloud over the negotiations.
The medical community also needs to establish a single ‘representative’ window in order to communicate with the government, but it is not easy to find a ‘focus’ that can act as a negotiating body because residents, medical school professors, the Korean Medical Association (KMA), etc. have different opinions and opinions.
The government virtually rejected the request by the medical community to cancel the 2,000-person increase as a precondition for negotiations.
Although everyone agrees with the principle that the conflict in medicine and politics must be resolved, some say that the prospects for negotiations are not very bright as the process of finding a solution faces such difficulties.
◇ The major ‘remains silent’ despite successive proposals from the government… Medical school professor raises questions about ‘representativeness’
President Yoon Seok-yeol urged the medical community to engage in dialogue with the government on the 26th, continuing on the 24th.
President Yoon presided over the cabinet meeting that day and said, “I hope medical school faculty and other medical professionals will actively participate in dialogue with the government for medical reform,” and added, “Please persuade my students and medical residents to return as soon as possible.”
Accordingly, Prime Minister Han Deok-soo visited Seoul National University Hospital on this day and met with presidents of major universities, deans of medical schools, and hospital directors, and proposed forming a constructive dialogue between the government and the medical community to resolve the problem.
As the government actively demonstrates its willingness to engage in dialogue, professors such as the National Medical University Professors’ Emergency Response Committee and the National Association of Medical Professors are also seeking clues to resolving the situation by calling themselves ‘mediators’.
However, the residents who submitted their collective resignations and left the hospital are silent.
The Korean Medical Residents Association (Daejeon Medical Association), an organization representing medical residents, is ‘silent’.
The Daejeon Cooperative Emergency Response Committee remained in ‘silent mode’ despite the news that President Yoon proposed dialogue with the medical community, the news that the government was considering a plan to postpone the suspension of medical residents’ licenses, and the news that medical school professors and the ruling party claimed mediation. It is consistent with .
At 9:56 pm on the 24th, Daejeonhyup Emergency Committee Chairman Park Dan left only one word, ‘?’, on social media (SNS).
This is the day that President Yoon Seok-yeol ordered Prime Minister Han to “consult with the party to find a flexible solution and form a constructive consultative body with medical professionals to promote dialogue.”
It is difficult to even guess what position residents hold based on just one meaningful letter, ‘?’, which does not know whether it is positive or negative.
‘A resident who doesn’t return’… Quiet accommodation for residents at a university hospital
As a result of this situation, the medical community is in a position to only look at the ‘mouths’ of medical residents.
This is because if residents do not actively participate, consultations between the medical community and the government become virtually meaningless. Even if the medical community and the government come up with a compromise, if residents reject it, all work may go in vain.
Medical school professors are also well aware of the fact that resolution of the situation and negotiation itself are impossible without the participation of residents.
Kim Chang-soo, president of the Korean Medical Association, said at a press conference the previous day, “We have consistently stated from the beginning that the most important entity that can resolve the current situation is residents,” and added, “The resident council should take the lead in the consultation process.”
There are voices among medical residents that say professors at medical schools and teaching hospitals, who are mentioned as dialogue partners with the government, do not represent their positions.
Okhada Ryu, an intern who resigned, said simply, “The faculty council does not represent residents or the medical community. By no means has any resident requested mediation or delegated authority (to professors).”
He disparaged the representativeness of medical school professors, saying, “The government’s intention to talk to professors is the same as meeting the company’s CEO after the union has resigned.”
Professors at Korea University Hospital submit their resignations
◇ Medical ‘single window’ agent… Residents, professors, and medical associations each make their own claims
While medical residents remain silent, the medical community also needs to establish a single representative window to communicate with the government, but even this is not easy.
There are two professor organizations that claim to be mediators between the government and residents: the Korean Medical Association and the National Medical University Professors’ Emergency Committee. Among these, the National Medical University Professor Emergency Committee was launched on the 12th to resolve the mass resignation of medical residents.
The Korean Medical Association said it would communicate with the Korean Medical Association, Daejeon Medical Association, and the Korean Medical University and Graduate School of Medicine Student Association (KMA), but it is unclear how much participation of residents and medical students will be able to be drawn into future dialogue with the government.
The appearance of a new medical association president could also be a variable.
The Korean Medical Association will announce the winner after closing the runoff voting for the 42nd presidential election this evening.
Candidate Lim Hyun-taek, chairman of the Korean Pediatrics Association, and candidate Joo Su-ho, who served as the 35th president of the Korean Medical Association and was the chairman of the media and publicity committee of the Emergency Response Committee of the Korean Medical Association, faced off.
Since both of them have been making hard-line remarks against the government, dialogue with the government may not be easy no matter who is elected. This means that it is unclear whether the new president of the Korean Medical Association will participate in dialogue in coordination with professor groups such as the Korean Medical Association.
Still, the Korean Medical Association does not deny the necessity of increasing the number of medical schools, but it is taking an ‘ultra-hardline’ stance that the next candidate for the president of the Korean Medical Association does not need a single increase in the number of medical schools.
Candidate Lim Hyun-taek even argues that the number of medical school admissions should be reduced by 500 to 1,000 based on the decrease in the number of births.
Candidate Joo Su-ho also said, “The increase in medical schools must be reconsidered from the beginning,” and “there is no need to talk with the government.”
‘Legislative conflict, when?’
Moreover, the residents who hold the key to the solution do not trust professors or the medical association.
From the residents’ perspective, professors are stakeholders who have made the working and training environment poor, and the Korean Medical Association are senior doctors who have left behind bad memories of 2020.
At the time, residents also went on a mass hiatus in protest against the government’s push to increase the number of medical schools, and there was controversy that the Korean Medical Association excluded residents from last-minute negotiations with the government.
Even if the medical community gathers the ‘hearts’ of all residents, professors, medical associations, and medical students to establish a single window, future negotiations will not be easy, and with this division, observations are raised pessimistic about the prospects for negotiations.
Moreover, the medical community is putting forward ‘cancellation of the 2,000-person increase in personnel’ as a precondition for negotiations, but the government is in a position that it will never accept this, so it is not possible to be optimistic about whether both sides will be able to sit at the negotiating table.
President Yoon also emphasized on this day, “The minimum necessary conditions for medical reform have been created as the scale of medical school expansion has been confirmed for each university,” and “Increasing medical schools is the starting point of medical reform.”
A professor at one of Seoul’s ‘Big 5’ hospitals said, “It is difficult to come up with a satisfactory negotiation plan for both the medical community and the government,” and added, “I am concerned that we may have gone too far (to find an agreement).”
jandi@yna.co.kr
Report to KakaoTalk okjebo
