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TexasTowelie

(111,279 posts)
Fri Sep 4, 2020, 06:48 PM Sep 2020

Korean doctors call off strike, reach agreement with government

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Thousands of striking South Korean doctors are ready to return to work as the Korean Medical Association and the ruling Democratic Party came to an agreement Friday that put a halt to the government's medical reform plans.

South Korean interns and residents have been on strike since Aug. 21 in response to governments plans introduced in July that would have increased medical school admission quotas by 4,000 over the next decade.

The five-point agreement signed Friday morning by the KMA and DP said discussions would start from scratch after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, with special commissions to be formed that include doctors, politicians and health officials.

Later in the day, KMA President Choi Dae-zip signed another agreement with Health Minister Park Neung-hoo to end the strike and call on trainee doctors to return to work.

Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2020/09/04/Korean-doctors-call-off-strike-reach-agreement-with-government/5331599210876/

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Korean doctors call off strike, reach agreement with government (Original Post) TexasTowelie Sep 2020 OP
the public sentiment against the striking doctors was overwhelming soryang Sep 2020 #1
I was hoping that you would comment and provide some additional perspective. TexasTowelie Sep 2020 #2
ty TT for posting this soryang Sep 2020 #3

soryang

(3,299 posts)
1. the public sentiment against the striking doctors was overwhelming
Fri Sep 4, 2020, 08:15 PM
Sep 2020

funny how this report uses the passive voice like there was ever support for the strike.

I think the poll figures are nonsense. These doctors and residents are selfish privlleged right wing snobs completely out of touch with reality.

I wonder what they'll pull for their next act. This isn't over by a long shot. One South Korean report stated categorically that approximately 700 providers refused to return to work in Taegu.

TexasTowelie

(111,279 posts)
2. I was hoping that you would comment and provide some additional perspective.
Fri Sep 4, 2020, 08:58 PM
Sep 2020

I see that the South Korean medical establishment shares a lot of similarities with the U.S. medical establishment regarding politics.

soryang

(3,299 posts)
3. ty TT for posting this
Fri Sep 4, 2020, 11:02 PM
Sep 2020

Every time i look into one of these right left confrontations, I learn more about the contemporary social patterns from the past, that are often difficult to perceive due to the modern trappings, and the bias of generally conservative media coverage in the US and South Korea that filters out the distasteful aspects, especially of the faction that they support.

I thought of the old Chosun class bullying and bias, can the son of a concubine learn the classics? Could a commoner or former slave sit for the government exam? Don't be ridiculous! A part of the Korean-American community in the US still preserves these old class pretensions, and prejudices, which serve to support and justify their social behavior if they are successful in their field. There is an almost per se deification of the medical doctor.

"I don't accept medicare or insurance." "I would never send my child to anything other than an ivy league school." This is what this is about. There is a usually unspoken pecking order in the community based upon profession, education, and wealth. There is also a self righteousness that brooks no contradiction. I think the most common notion is I'm the authority, because I'm a doctor! I'm glad to see that the modern democratic impulse in South Korea today is more than holding their own with the conservatives.

I had to laugh at a Korean editorial video that concluded that your Korean medical doctors aren't "Kim Sa-bu," the Korean fictional equivalent of Dr. House here in the US. "If you think doctors are angels, they aren't."

Maybe they took the survey in Gangnam gu, the wealthiest and most conservative district in Seoul.



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