KMA Official Threatens Class Action upon Trainee Doctors’ License Suspension

Park Myung-ha, head of the Korean Medical Association(KMA) emergency committee’s organizational affairs, threatened to file a class action suit if the government suspends the licenses of trainee doctors who have yet to return to work in protest of a medical school admissions quota hike.

Appearing for a fifth round of police questioning on Friday on the suspicion of plotting and instigating the trainee doctors’ collective action, Park said medical professors are enraged over the government’s push to “burn the last remaining bridge” through the suspensions next week.

The KMA official said the doctors’ group plans to protect the trainee doctors by launching a class action suit with the help of a major law firm.

Expressing concern over some medical schools outside the capital region seeing their admissions quotas triple or even quadruple in size, Park said the doctors’ group calls for the government to scrap the plan and return to the starting point for a renegotiation.

Last month, the health ministry filed complaints against five current and former KMA officials, including Park, for alleged violation of the Medical Service Act, obstruction of business, instigation and abetting.