• 9 months ago
South Korea raised its health alert to the highest level on Friday (Feb 23) after a mass walkout by trainee doctors this week, while the prime minister said public hospitals would extend working hours to respond to growing strains on the medical system.

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Transcript
00:00 South Korea raised its health alert to the highest level on Friday after a mass walkout
00:05 by trainee doctors this week.
00:07 Prime Minister Han Deok-su said at a disaster management meeting that public hospitals would
00:12 extend working hours to respond to growing strains on the medical system.
00:16 "The government has raised the level of health and medical disaster alert to the highest level
00:22 on Friday, and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Central Disaster Safety
00:30 Management Headquarters, and 17 other government agencies will join the government's response
00:39 system."
00:42 A strike by nearly two-thirds of young doctors against expanded medical school enrollment
00:47 is causing disruptions to patient care, with concerns that the situation could worsen if
00:52 unresolved.
00:53 "As of February 22, a total of 8,900 doctors from the top 100 hospitals in the country have
01:02 submitted their resignation letters, and 7,800 of them have left their jobs."
01:10 Eight thousand and four hundred doctors represent about 64 percent of the entire number of resident
01:15 and intern doctors in South Korea.
01:18 While they make up a far smaller fraction of the country's 100,000 doctors overall,
01:23 trainee doctors play a key role in the daily operations of teaching hospitals, where they
01:28 can constitute more than 40 percent of the staff in some cases.
01:31 "The number of doctors who have left their jobs is increasing.
01:38 We are seeing a decline in the number of doctors who have left their jobs.

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