Government and patient groups condemn medical professors’ boycott of training programs

The government has criticized medical school professors for their "boycott training" initiative, where they refuse to supervise trainee doctors, both interns and residents, starting their hospital training in September, calling it "contrary to constitutional and human rights values." Patient rights groups have also condemned this action, labeling it "an abandonment of patients' lives."

"Recently, some medical school professors have announced their intention to 'boycott training programs,' refusing to educate and guide specialist doctors who will be recruited in the second half of the year," stated Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyu-hong during a Central Disaster Safety Task Force meeting on Tuesday. He added, "It's miserable that they seem to be turning a blind eye to the anxiety and inconvenience of patients."

Kwon Byung-ki, an official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, further criticized the professors in a briefing after the meeting. "Discriminating against students based on their school or hospital of origin is not a proper attitude for an educator responsible for medical education and goes against the constitutional value of prohibiting discrimination," he said, denouncing the professors' refusal to allow doctors from other hospitals to fill the vacancies left by the resigned doctors as discriminatory.

Patient groups have reacted strongly to the boycott. The Korean Organization for Serious Diseases, which includes six organizations such as the Korean Association for Lung Cancer Patients, issued a statement condemning that “the move to abandon patients' suffering and lives and interfere with people's right to medical treatment is immoral and inhumane."


김소영 기자 ksy@donga.com