More med professors considering weekly breaks amid prolonged doctors’ walkout

Professors from around 20 major medical schools nationwide will decide Friday whether to take a weekly day off while struggling to fill the void of trainee doctors who have walked off their jobs for more than two months, officials said.

The emergency committee for national medical professors will hold a general meeting online later in the day and discuss the potential suspension of all surgeries and treatment for outpatients once a week, according to its officials.

“Professors have hit their limit both mentally and physically,” a committee official said. “We will review whether to take a day off on a regular basis, and details will be fixed in accordance with the situation of each hospital.”

The committee involves professors from around 20 medical schools, and those affiliated with some of the schools have already made a decision to have a weekly break starting next month.

Earlier, professors working for South Korea’s five major hospitals — Asan Medical Center, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital — decided to suspend their work either on a day next week, or on a weekly basis.

Those serving at Seoul National University Hospital will take a day off on April 30, and Severance professors will take a weekly break starting on Tuesday through end-May.

Asan center professors vowed not work on Tuesday and on May 3, and professors for Samsung and St. Mary’s hospitals are discussing exactly when to take a day off.

“Despite looming closures, hospitals will likely continue the operations of their emergency rooms and intensive care units,” the official added.

The professors serve as senior doctors at major hospitals.

The move came as more than 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors have walked away from their duties at general hospitals since Feb. 20 in protest of the government’s decision to increase the number of medical school seats by 2,000 starting next year from the current 3,058.

The government and the medical community have not yet found a breakthrough to their conflict.

The medical community cited heavy workloads and extreme fatigue as major reasons for the move, but it is also seen as a way of adding pressure on the government to seek a breakthrough as the plan on the medical school admission quota for next year is supposed to be finalized by end-April.

Adding to the woes, medical professors have submitted their resignations since March 25 in support of the collective action by junior doctors, which were supposed to take legal effect after one month.

The government launched a special presidential commission on medical reform Thursday for talks on the issue with the medical community, including doctors.

It also decided to allow universities to decide their quotas by a range of 50 to 100 percent of what the government assigned for next year.

But doctors have rejected the proposals, calling for the government to revisit the issue from scratch.