Park Hyung-wook, the chairman of the Korea Medical Association (KMA) emergency committee, noted at the ‘National Representative Assembly of Physicians to Address Medical Misconduct and Punish Those Responsible’ held on the 22nd at the KMA building in Yongsan, Seoul, that “the direction the medical community must take is to establish a tradition of discussing within a single framework across all sectors, and rather than blaming each other, we should think about and practice what our group can do.” He added, “If we can unite the will of all sectors, including residents and medical students, then preventing medical misconduct and normalizing healthcare will be one step closer.”
This assembly was the first time since the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk-yeol was passed that all sectors of the medical community, including private practitioners, hospital employees, medical professors, and residents, gathered together.
Kang Dae-sik, acting president of the KMA, said, “The government must immediately stop the flawed medical reform policies it has implemented thus far and punish those responsible.” Kim Kyo-woong, chairman of the KMA's representative council, asserted, “Now, university presidents must commit to ensuring proper education alongside professors for the sake of student enrollment.”
The assembly was also attended by lawmakers from the National Assembly, including Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Power Party, a former physician, and Lee Joo-young from the Reform Party. Ahn said, “The government and the ruling and opposition parties, along with the medical community, should form an emergency consultative body and start discussing the issue of increasing medical student numbers in 2025.” He added, “We need to re-establish a consultative body for the medium- to long-term medical reforms, and the acting president must apologize regarding the decree to ‘punish the residents.’”
Lee Joo-young stated, “The only way to suspend the current regular recruitment process is to delegate that authority to each medical school. We will take responsibility for any lawsuits related to the respective schools, including legal issues and education, and I ask that you step forward before the students.” He added, “I ask that professors promise to teach residents the most efficiently and professionally when they return to the program.”