The Korean Medical Association (KMA), the nation’s largest doctors’ group, announced its plan, Sunday, to launch an all-out strike on June 18, as the ongoing tug of war between the government and the medical community over a health care reform plan shows no signs of abating.
The KMA’s planned collective action, which would be the first of its kind since 2020, is in solidarity with thousands of trainee doctors who have been on strike since late February.
According to the KMA, representing around 140,000 physicians nationwide, including those from general hospitals and private clinics, 90.6 percent of the 70,800 members who participated in the survey supported the organization’s hardline stance against the government’s medical reform plan. Additionally, 73.5 percent of the respondents agreed on participating in the collective action in this regard.
Out of approximately 112,000 active members, 63.3 percent took part in the vote, which ran from Tuesday through Friday.
Based on the survey results, the association decided to go on strike on June 18 and hold a mass rally. It noted that whether or not the strike will continue after that day depends on the government’s response.
The doctors’ group sought public understanding of what it described as an “inevitable action to counter the government’s tyranny over the medical community.”
“The government and the ruling party are still refusing to acknowledge their mistakes and are continuing to push ahead with flawed medical 토토 policies. Now, it is time for our 140,000 doctors to form a united front against the government and the ruling party and correct these misguided policies,” KMA President Lim Hyun-taek said during a rally at the association’s office in central Seoul’s Yongsan District.
If launched, it will be the first all-out collective action by physicians in Korea since a similar strike in 2020. In August that year, the KMA led a nationwide doctors’ walkout to protest the government’s plan to increase the admissions quota for medical schools, which lasted for two weeks.