More than 1,300 trainee doctors were set to file a complaint against Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong and Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo for alleged abuse of power, junior doctors said Monday, as their mass walkout has disrupted public health services for nearly eight weeks.
A total of 1,360 trainee doctors will ask the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials to investigate Cho and Park, accusing them of abusing power and interfering with the exercise of their rights, according to Jung Guen-young, a former representative of junior doctors at Cha University Bundang Medical Center.
The complaint will be filed via mail later in the day, Jung told reporters.
The health ministry has ordered trainee doctors, who left their worksites on Feb. 20 after submitting resignations en masse in protest of the government’s plan to hike the number of medical students, to return to work, but trainee doctors have defied the order.
Hospitals have not accepted their resignations.
“The government has
abused its power to ban hospitals from processing junior doctors’ resignations, and issued return-to-work orders to make young doctors work against their will,” Jung said.
Jung pointed out that the government has obstructed the exercise of rights guaranteed by the Constitution, including their freedom to choose jobs.
“We demand a prompt dismissal of Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo,” Jung said. “Park has led the misguided policies, neglected the rights of the people and disrupted the constitutional order during the process.”
Jung also said trainee doctors won’t return to work unless the government sacks Park.
An official at the health ministry voiced regret over the complaint.
“The health ministry’s medical reform, including raising the medical school quota, is being carried out by the minister in accordance with related laws,” the official said.
Source: Yonhap News Agency