South Korea urges doctors to join talks over ongoing walkout

Published On 2024-10-11 04:45 GMT | Update On 2024-10-11 04:45 GMT

Seoul: South Korea's Second Vice Health Minister, Park Min-soo, has reiterated calls for the medical community to engage in unconditional dialogue to address the ongoing walkout by trainee doctors.

"We ask the medical community to engage in dialogue without setting any preconditions or agenda," Park told a government response meeting, Yonhap news agency reported.

Read also: South Korea's Medical Reform Plan: Medical Professors to launch indefinite walkout from July 12

"Once we start a dialogue, we can resolve even the most complicated issues,” Park added, news agency IANS reported.

Thousands of trainee doctors have been absent from their workplaces in a form of mass resignation since February, with the medical community calling for discussions on the agenda from scratch.

The health ministry, meanwhile, said that local emergency rooms are operating without major disruptions despite the challenging circumstances.

The number of average patients in emergency rooms with light symptoms came to 6,077 during the first week of October, down from 8,285 in the first week of February, according to the ministry data.

The number of patients in critical condition also fell slightly to 1,356 from 1,469 over the same period, the ministry added.

According to an IANS report, Park said, "Although some point out that the number of deaths in the country in the second quarter increased from the previous year, experts believe that a 1.1 per cent rise is not significant in terms of statistics."

Statistics Korea's data recently showed that the number of deaths in the country came to 84,147 in the second quarter, up 912 from a year earlier.

Park also pointed out that the number of deaths in emergency rooms during the March-July period fell 4.5 per cent on-year to 18,690.

Medical professors of Seoul National University, meanwhile, were set to participate in a debate session later in the day with government officials, including Jang Sang-yoon, the senior presidential secretary for social policy.

It will mark the first time a senior presidential secretary has participated in a debate session regarding medical reform.

Read also: Korean Govt to allow conditional leave for students protesting medical school quota hike

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Kajal Rajput

Kajal joined Medical Dialogue in 2019 for the Latest Health News. She has done her graduation from the University of Delhi. She mainly covers news about the Latest Healthcare. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.

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South Korea urges doctors to join talks over ongoing walkout

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