South Korean government to take swift judicial action against doctors' actions

The South Korean government is preparing for rapid judicial processing by establishing a corporation system between prosecutors and police regarding collective actions by doctors, Yonhap reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the government held a meeting on Sunday and discussed plans to respond to doctors' strike.

"We continue to think that is the number of people needed," Sung Tae-yoon, director of national policy at the presidential office was quoted as saying during a press briefing. "We initially needed 3,000 to fill the shortage of doctors, but the government is thinking around 2,000 now in consideration of various factors," he added.

Public hospitals in South Korea will extend working hours, the prime minister said on Friday, while expanding the use of telemedicine to alleviate the growing strain on healthcare services after a mass walkout by thousands of trainee doctors this week.

Hospitals have turned away patients and cancelled surgeries after about two-thirds of the country's young doctors walked off the job to protest against a government plan for more admissions to medical schools, prompting fears of further disruption.

"The operation of public medical institutions will be raised to the maximum," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a disaster management meeting, saying such hospitals would stay open longer as well as on weekends and holidays to take in the overflow.

The health ministry said on Friday that it is allowing all hospitals and clinics to offer telemedicine services, such as consultations and prescriptions, until now available only on a limited basis.

More than 7,800 interns and resident doctors have walked out, the ministry added.

That is just a fraction of the country's 100,000 doctors, but they have a key role in daily operations at teaching hospitals, where they can make up more than 40 percent of staff, as cost savings make them attractive for larger hospitals.

They perform crucial tasks in emergency rooms, intensive care units and operating rooms at large hospitals that treat patients referred by smaller hospitals and private clinics.

Nurses warned they are being forced to carry out procedures in wards and operating theaters that are normally the preserve of trainee doctors.

"The primary responsibility of anyone in the medical profession is to care for the patients' health and life," said Tak Young-ran, the president of the Korean Nursing Association, urging the doctors to return to work.

The growing pressure on hospitals spurred the government to raise its health alert to "severe" from "cautious" on Friday, after emergency departments in the biggest hospitals have been squeezed since the protest began on Tuesday.

(With input from Reuters)