South Korea: Massive protest by doctors in Seoul against the government's plan

teleSUR English

Thousands of doctors rallied in Seoul to show support for young doctors who have been on strike for nearly two weeks over a government plan to dramatically increase the number of admissions to medical schools. teleSUR

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00:00 In South Korea, thousands of senior doctors march on Sunday in the country's capital

00:04 Seoul in support of their fellow trainees who are on strike against the government policies.

00:10 The march is in response to the latest threat from the executive, which has set a deadline

00:15 for the strike to end, or else they will face severe sanctions.

00:20 For almost two weeks, medical doctors have been protesting against the government's

00:24 plan to drastically increase the number of students enrolled at universities.

00:29 They say the measure will not necessarily solve the deficit of doctors, whereas it may

00:35 be in detriment of the quality of the training they would receive.

00:39 The government said that as of this Monday, it could begin to suspend licenses to all

00:44 9,000 striking doctors.

00:50 The shortage of medical personnel can be solved by changing current policies rather than by

00:55 increasing the number of doctors.

00:58 To put it simply, five years ago, there was a shortage of 3,000 doctors a year, a total

01:03 of 15,000 doctors.

01:05 At that time, Korea's population was larger and there were many more pediatric patients.

01:10 This phenomenon did not exist even five years ago, when the birth rate was twice as high.

01:15 So the problem is policy, not the number of doctors.

01:18 But the government is misleading the public by saying that this phenomenon is due to a

01:23 shortage of doctors and is putting doctors in a negative light.

01:28 On Sunday, in Pakistan, Shabazz Sharif was voted as prime minister for a second term.

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