IANS | 12 Apr, 2024
A court in South Korea's Seoul on Thursday dismissed requests by
leaders of the biggest doctors' association to halt the government's
suspension of their medical licenses in connection with a mass walkout
by trainee doctors.
The Health Ministry earlier suspended two
leaders of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), including the emergency
committee head, Kim Taek-woo, accusing them of instigating a collective
labour action by trainee doctors, reports Yonhap News Agency.
The suspension becomes effective on April 15.
Over
90 per cent of South Korea's 13,000 trainee doctors have walked off the
job since February 20 in protest of the government's plan to increase
the number of medical school admissions by 2,000 starting next year from
the current 3,058 seats to address a shortage of doctors.
Kim has
since filed a request against the Health Minister with the Seoul
Administrative Court to halt the execution of the license suspension.
However, the court dismissed the request, saying halting the suspension
could compromise the effectiveness of the Health Ministry's punitive
action taken against disobedience of back-to-work orders and hinder the
public's trust in such punitive actions.
It also cited the
possibility of the collective walkout by doctors spreading further and
prolonging a medical vacuum, concluding that the harm it can inflict on
public health and welfare is significantly graver than the damage the
applicant could sustain from the suspension.
In a separate ruling
on Thursday, the administrative court also dismissed a request by Park
Myung-ha, the KMA's organisation consolidation chief, to halt the
suspension of his medical license.
