Doctors’ group welcomes Yoon’s offer of talks with trainee doctors

A major lobby group of community doctors on Wednesday welcomed an offer by President Yoon Suk Yeol for talks with trainee doctors, reacting positively to a possible meeting between Yoon and junior doctors over a prolonged standoff over a plan to hike the number of medical students.

Kim Taek-woo, head of the emergency committee at the Korea Medical Association, which represents 140,000 community doctors, made the remarks a day after the presidential office said Yoon is open to talks with trainee doctors.

About 12,000 junior doctors have been on strike in the form of mass resignations since Feb. 20 in protest of the plan for a hike of 2,000 medical school admissions.

“It is welcome to proceed with a direct meeting between Mr. President and trainee doctors,” Kim told reporters.

However, Kim said a meeting between Yoon and trainee doctors should be “meaningful” even if it takes place.

Kim Sung-geun, a spokesperson of the association’s emergency committee, said a meeting between Yoon and trainee doctors may take place. “Our expectation is that it’s positive.”

But, the spokesperson also said the government should scrap the increased admission quotas if it is sincere about talks with the medical community.

Still, prospects for a breakthrough over the standoff remain uncertain as the government has shown little sign of reducing the size of the increased medical school admission quotas.

Adding to the complexity over the standoff, the government had already allocated the admission quotas to universities.

In a national address on Monday, Yoon called on doctors to come up with a “unified proposal” on the appropriate increase in medical school admissions, saying the government will be open to talks though it believes a hike of 2,000 is the minimum.

The reform plan has emerged as a hot-button issue for next week’s parliamentary elections, with the ruling People Power Party aiming to regain a majority in the National Assembly.