Operations canceled as doctors’ strike in South Korea growsAFP and AP, SEOULThe South Korean government yesterday warned thousands of striking doctors to return to work immediately or face legal action after their collective walkouts caused cancelations of surgeries and disrupted other hospital operations. Doctors and medical workers participate in a protest against a plan to admit more students to medical schools in front of the Presidential Office in Seoul yesterday. “A collective action holding the lives and safety of the people cannot be justified for whatever reason,” South Korean Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min told a news conference with other top officials. South Korea’s medical law allows the government to issue such back-to-work orders to doctors and other medical personnel when there are grave concerns about public health. South Korea’s general hospitals rely heavily on trainees for emergency operations and surgeries, and local reports said cancer patients and expectant mothers needing caesarean sections had seen procedures canceled or delayed, with scores of cases causing “damage,” he said.
