South Korea opens hotline to support doctors defying walkout
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korea’s government opened a hotline for doctors on Tuesday that the health minister said was intended to support physicians who faced harassment or peer pressure if they chose not to join a mass walkout over healthcare reform plans. Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong defended the reforms, which include boosting the number […]
South Korea deploys military, public doctors to strike-hit hospitals
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korea will start deploying military physicians and doctors from public health centres to strike-hit hospitals on Monday to help care for patients affected by the walkout of nearly 12,000 trainee doctors from 100 hospitals over government reform plans. Twenty military surgeons along with 138 public health doctors will be assigned […]
South Korean doctors holds a mass rally against medical policy
Seoul, South Korea Reuters Thousands of South Korean doctors held a mass rally on Sunday against government plans to increase medical school admissions, defying official calls for trainee physicians who had also walked off the job in protest to return to work. Up to 40,000 doctors joined the rally, demanding the government scrap the plan, […]
South Korea’s Yoon says won’t back down over medical reforms as doctors strike
Seoul, South Korea Reuters President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed on Tuesday to go ahead with a plan to increase the number of students admitted into medical schools to improve healthcare in South Korea, and said there was no justification for the protests this reform had triggered. More than 9,000 young doctors, or about two-thirds of […]
Overworked and unheard, South Korean doctors on mass walkout say
Seoul, South Korea Reuters Ryu Ok Hada always wanted to help people, but now the South Korean trainee doctor has walked off the job and stands outside the hospital where he worked, holding his medical gown in his hand. Park Dan, who recently realised his childhood dream of being an emergency physician, is also one […]
South Korea health alert raised to ‘severe’ over doctors walkout
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korea will maximise the use of public hospitals to respond to growing strains on the medical system after a mass walkout by trainee doctors, the prime minister said on Friday, as the public health alert was elevated to the highest level. The protests by almost two-thirds of the country’s young […]
South Korea emergency units turn back patients as doctors protest
Seoul, South Korea Reuters South Korea’s biggest hospitals cancelled procedures and turned away patients seeking emergency care on Wednesday after thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in protest at a government plan to boost medical school admissions. One hospital, the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, put up a sign saying its emergency unit […]
WHO says Gaza’s health system must be protected as disease spreads
Geneva, SwizterlandReuters The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for Gaza’s vulnerable health infrastructure to be safeguarded as the war-torn enclave faces an increased risk of epidemics and challenges in detecting infectious diseases. A fragile truce agreement between Israel and Hamas last week has allowed WHO and aid organisations to increase their deliveries of essential […]
Major Gaza hospitals suspend operations as Israel hunts Hamas
Gaza/Jerusalem Reuters Two more major hospitals in Gaza closed to new patients on Sunday, with staff saying that Israeli bombardment plus lack of fuel and medicine meant more babies and others could die. Hospitals in the north of the Palestinian enclave are blockaded by Israeli forces and barely able to care for those inside, medical […]
Israel’s war on Hamas homes in on Gaza hospitals
Gaza/Jerusalem Reuters Palestinian officials said two babies had died and dozens more were at risk after fuel ran out at Gaza’s largest hospital on Saturday, while Israel said it was ready to evacuate babies from the facility. As the humanitarian situation worsened, the Gaza’s border authority announced that the Rafah land crossing into Egypt would […]