SEOUL — In response to escalating fatigue and ongoing protests by junior doctors, senior medical professors across South Korea have announced a decision to reduce their working hours starting this week. This move aims to mitigate the strain on these healthcare professionals and maintain patient care standards during a challenging period for the medical community.
According to Yonhap News Agency, statements from a nationwide emergency response committee representing medical professors, these senior physicians will commence their reduced schedules on Monday. The decision follows intensive discussions among the professors, who play crucial roles in patient care and medical education at leading hospitals. Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong convened a government meeting to address the impacts of the junior doctors' walkout, highlighting the administration's focus on the unfolding healthcare crisis.
Bang Jae-seung, the committee's head, articulated the professors' collective exhaustion at a press briefing on Saturday, citing unsustainable workloads that have necessitated a recalibration of their work commitments. Data from a recent survey at a university hospital revealed that professors have been working between 60 to 98 hours per week. Under the new schedule, professors will take mandatory rest following 24-hour shifts, concentrating their efforts on critically ill and emergency cases while deferring non-urgent surgeries and outpatient services.
This adjustment follows a prior initiative by a different medical professors' association to cap weekly working hours at 52, emphasizing the prioritization of acute and emergency care. These changes reflect a broader attempt within the medical sector to balance professional responsibilities with personal health, ensuring that physicians can continue to provide critical services effectively.
The health ministry's recent deliberations, led by Minister Cho, signify the government's concern and its call for comprehensive strategies to ensure the continuity of essential medical services, especially in emergency and intensive care settings.
The backdrop to these developments is a widespread strike by junior doctors, who, numbering over 90% of the nation's 13,000 trainees, have resigned en masse since February 20. They are protesting a government plan to significantly increase medical school admissions, a policy they argue could dilute the quality of medical education and healthcare delivery.