South Korea to suspend licenses of 2 senior doctors in first punishments over walkout

South Korean authorities will suspend the licenses of two senior doctors in the first punishments over a large-scale walkout, one of the doctors said Monday.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean authorities will suspend the licenses of two senior doctors for allegedly inciting the weekslong walkouts by thousands of medical interns and residents that have disrupted hospital operations, one of the doctors said Monday.

The impending suspensions are the first punishments against physicians after more than 90% of the country’s 13,000 doctors-in-training walked off the job last month to protest the government’s plan to sharply increase medical school admissions.

Officials say the recruitment plan is aimed at adding more doctors to prepare for South Korea’s rapidly aging population in a country whose doctor-to-population ratio is one of the lowest in the developed world. But doctors say schools can’t handle an abrupt, steep increase in students, and that it would ultimately undermine the country’s medical services.

In early March, the government began taking steps to suspend the licenses of striking junior doctors after they refused its orders to return to work by the end of February. Police are separately investigating five senior members of the Korean Medical Association, which represents doctors in South Korea, for allegedly inciting and abetting the strikes.

Park Myung-Ha, one of the five members, said he received a government-sent letter saying that his license will be suspended for three months starting April 15. Park, who works for the KMA’s emergency committee, said committee leader Kim Taek-woo was also given a three-month suspension.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/south-korea-suspend-licenses-2-senior-doctors-walkout-rcna144015

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