South Korea withdraws plans to suspend licenses of striking doctors

South Korea said on Monday it would withdraw its earlier plan to revoke the licenses of striking doctors, part of its efforts to break the medical impasse that has persisted in the country for months.

It is currently unclear whether and how many of the striking doctors will return to work following the government’s announcement. The plan could also provoke criticism because it violates the principle of fairness in the government’s handling of previous strikes and doctors who have already returned to work.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said on Monday the government had decided not to revoke the strikers’ licenses, regardless of whether they returned to their hospitals or not.

He said the government’s decision was intended to address the shortage of doctors to treat emergency and critical patients and to restore a training system to recruit more specialists.

More than 13,000 junior doctors went on strike in February in protest against the government’s plans to significantly increase the number of new students. Their strikes have placed a significant strain on the operations of the university hospitals where they had worked during their training.

A court in Seoul ruled in favor of the government’s plans in May.

The government later withdrew its plan to revoke the licenses of doctors who returned to their hospitals, but did not revoke the licenses of other doctors who stayed away from work.

Officials have announced plans to increase their doctor workforce by up to 10,000 by 2035 to address the country’s rapidly aging population and shortages of doctors in rural areas and in low-paying but essential specialties such as pediatrics and emergency departments.

Doctors say schools are not prepared to handle a sudden increase in student numbers and that this would ultimately jeopardize the country’s medical care system. But critics argue that doctors, who are among the highest-paid professions in South Korea, are primarily concerned that more doctors would lower their income.

The striking doctors represent only a fraction of South Korea’s total medical workforce, estimated at between 115,000 and 140,000. However, in some major hospitals they represented about 30 to 40 percent of the medical workforce, assisting fully trained doctors and department heads in surgeries and other treatments while they were in training. Their strikes led to the cancellation of numerous surgeries and other treatments in their hospitals and threatened to disrupt South Korea’s health care system.