SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court docket dominated in favor of the federal government’s contentious plan to drastically increase medical faculty admissions on Thursday.
A standoff between the federal government and docs against the plan has shaken the nation’s medical system for months. Greater than 10,000 junior docs have been on a strike since February in protest.
The Seoul Excessive Court docket rejected a request for an injunction to dam the plan made by putting docs and different opponents of the plan , which might increase the nation’s medical faculty enrollment quota by 2,000 subsequent yr, from the present cap of three,058.
The docs had been anticipated to attraction the ruling to the Supreme Court docket, the nation’s prime court docket.
The putting docs symbolize a fraction of all docs in South Korea, estimated to quantity between 115,000 and 140,000. However in some main hospitals, they account for about 30% to 40% of docs, helping absolutely certified docs and division chiefs throughout surgical procedures and different remedies whereas coaching. Their walkouts have brought on cancellations to quite a few surgical procedures and different remedies at their hospitals.
Officers say the plan is geared toward including extra docs, as a result of South Korea has one of many world’s fastest-aging populations and its doctor-to-population ratio is among the many lowest within the developed world.
Docs say faculties aren’t able to deal with an abrupt enhance in college students and that it might finally undermine the nation’s medical companies. They are saying the federal government plan would additionally lead to docs performing pointless remedies due to better competitors. However critics argue that many docs are primarily frightened that extra competitors would decrease their incomes.