Keystone-SDA
About 8,300 medical students in South Korea will return to class after 17 months of strike, the Korean medical association announced on Monday. This movement opposed the increase in the number of places in faculty.
(Keystone-ATS) The South Korean health system had found itself plunged into chaos in early 2024, when the president of the time, Yoon Suk Yeol, had decided to increase the number of medical schools strongly, evoking the need to have more doctors to deal with the aging of the population.
This measure had caused an uproar among students and young doctors, the first boycotting the courses and the second massively ceasing work in hospitals.
The strikers argued that the reform would cause deterioration in the quality of medical education and care. The project was however largely supported by public opinion, many accusing doctors of seeking above all to preserve their high remuneration and their privileged social status.
The government finally turned back last March, after Mr. Yoon’s suspension for his disastrous attempt to impose martial law.
A healthy health system
“Students agreed to return to school,” the Korean medical association said on Monday, without specifying when exactly.
The Association of Korean Medicine Students, for its part, explained in a statement that its members had made this decision to fear causing “the collapse of the foundations of the medical system” in the country.
The new South Korean president, Lee Jae Myung, elected in June, had promised during his campaign to resolve this conflict.
The majority of approximately 12,000 young doctors who went on strike last year, however, still refuse to regain work.
