대통령실 "전공의 행정·사법처분 않길 희망…처분前 돌아오길"Health care standoff to worsen amid loomin

[정승남세기영어교육연구회장]

Health care standoff to worsen amid looming resignations by med professors

대통령실 "전공의 행정·사법처분 않길 희망…처분前 돌아오길"

금주 면허정지 처분 시작에 "절차 밟을 수밖에"…"당장 인원 변경 계획 없어"

Oh Seok-min National 10:38 March 24, 2024 Yonhap News

SEOUL, March 24 (Yonhap) -- The monthlong confrontation between the government and doctors was feared to worsen further as medical school professors were to tender mass resignations and cut back on patient care starting this week, while the government was to suspend the licenses of striking trainee doctors, officials said Sunday.
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More than 90 percent of the country's 13,000 trainee doctors have been on strike in the form of mass resignations for about a month to protest the government's decision to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 seats from the current 3,058 starting next year to enhance health care services in remote areas, as well as essential but less popular medical disciplines.
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Joining the collective action, professors of medical schools nationwide will begin to submit their resignations Monday and will reduce their weekly work hours to 52 hours by adjusting surgeries and other medical treatments, according to the national medical school professors' council.
Starting April 1, they will also "minimize" medical services for outpatients to focus on seriously ill patients and emergency patient care.
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The professors have called on the government to withdraw the plan to drastically raise the medical school enrollment quota and come forward for dialogue.
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"Our decision to resign and reduce outpatient care was to ensure safe treatments for inpatients and those with serious cases," a council official said. "Even after tendering our resignations, we will do our best to treat patients until the resignations are accepted."
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A doctor is seen at a general hospital in the southeastern city of Daegu on March 21, 2024. (Yonhap)
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Undeterred by such moves, the government has vowed to take action "in accordance with law and principles," stressing that the planned increase of medical students by 2,000 was not a matter of negotiation.
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The government has been taking due administrative steps to suspend the licenses of striking doctors as they missed a government-set deadline to return to work late last month, and the suspension will take effect Tuesday for some.
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Under South Korea's medical law, doctors refusing the state back-to-work order could face a minimum three-month suspension, as well as indictments from the prosecution.
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The prolonged deadlock has worsened medical service disruptions.
An association of critically ill patients has urged the government to come up with "practical solutions" and appealed for doctors to use restraint, saying the walkouts by professors under the current circumstances equal "a death sentence" for patients.
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The government plans to deploy 247 more military surgeons and public health doctors at strike-hit hospitals to bring the total number of such medical staff to 413.
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It also seeks to hire senior doctors who have retired to minimize the chaos.
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Patients sit in wheelchairs at a hospital in Seoul on March 22, 2024. (Yonhap)
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The government is pushing to increase the admission quota to address a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine.
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Given the rapid population aging and other issues, the country is also expected to fall short of 15,000 doctors by 2035.
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But doctors argue that the quota hikes would compromise the quality of medical education and services and create a surplus of physicians, and the government must devise ways of better protecting them from malpractice suits and extending compensation to induce more physicians to practice in such "unpopular" areas.
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graceoh@yna.co.kr
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(END)

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대통령실 "전공의 행정·사법처분 않길 희망…처분前 돌아오길"

송고시간2024-03-24 10:57 이동환 기자 연합뉴스

금주 면허정지 처분 시작에 "절차 밟을 수밖에"…"당장 인원 변경 계획 없어"

민생 토론 관련 브리핑하는 성태윤 정책실장

(서울=연합뉴스) 진성철 기자 = 성태윤 대통령실 정책실장이 17일 서울 용산 대통령실 청사에서 민생토론회와 관련해 현안 브리핑을 하고 있다. 2024.3.17 zjin@yna.co.kr

(서울=연합뉴스) 이동환 기자 = 성태윤 대통령실 정책실장은 24일 전공의들을 대상으로 이번 주부터 시작되는 '면허 정지 처분'과 관련해 "법과 원칙이 있기 때문에 절차를 밟아나갈 수밖에 없는 것도 사실"이라고 말했다.

성 실장은 이날 KBS '일요진단 라이브'에 출연해 "가급적 정부는 행정적·사법적 처분이 나가지 않는 것을 희망한다"며 이같이 밝혔다.

이어 "(면허정지) 절차가 마무리되기 전에 (의료 현장에) 조속히 돌아와서 환자를 방치하는 일이 결단코 없도록 다시 부탁한다"며 기존 의대 증원 규모인 2천명이 최소 필요 인원이라는 기존 입장을 재차 밝혔다.

보건복지부는 업무개시명령에도 병원에 복귀하지 않은 전공의들의 면허를 당장 이번 주부터 정지시킨다는 계획이다. 이달 초 가장 먼저 면허 정지 사전통지서를 받은 전공의들의 경우 의견 제출 기한이 이달 25일까지인데, 끝내 의견을 내지 않으면 이론적으로는 26일부터 바로 면허를 정지시킬 수 있다.

성 실장은 "2035년에 (의사 수가) 1만명 정도 부족하다. 이를 메우려면 연간 2천명 배출은 필요한 상황"이라며 "5년 정도 이후에 필요하다면 인원에 대해서 좀 더 (논의해) 볼 수는 있지만, 지금 당장은 인원을 변경시킬 계획은 없다"고 말했다.

아울러 서울은 인구 1천명당 의사수 기준이 3.61명으로 OECD 평균(3.7명)에 근접하지만, 같은 수도권인 경기(1.8명)·인천(1.89명)만 해도 현저하게 낮다면서 "서울을 제외한 지역에 (증원 인원을) 거의 다 배정했다"고 설명했다.

그러면서 "이른바 '빅5'급 병원이 각 지역에 하나씩 존재하게 만드는 게 중요하다"며 지역 거점 국립대에 인원을 배치하는 게 중요하다고 덧붙였다.

dhlee@yna.co.kr

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