Medical school professors who submitted their resignations last month in protest against the expansion of medical school admissions quotas have announced their intention to leave hospitals starting Thursday gradually. However, the government is skeptical, claiming that there are no scheduled resignation letters for processing.
"Resignation is the last resort we can resort to as professors,” Bang Jae-seung, the chairman of the Emergency Response Committee of the Seoul National University Medical School and Hospital Faculty Council, stated at a press conference on Wednesday. He and three other emergency committee leadership professors announced their departure from the hospital on May 1.
"Outpatient consultation on Thursday will be the last, and we will not see any more patients," said Choi Chang-min, a professor of internal medicine at Asan Medical Center in Seoul and chairman of the National Medical School Professors' Emergency Response Committee. Movements to leave the hospital are becoming widespread. Professors argue that, according to civil law, there is no issue with leaving the hospital as the resignation takes effect on Thursday, one month after submission.
However, the government insists that resignation is invalid unless accepted by a national or private university president. "I don't understand what it means to resign when the resignation letter has not been accepted," Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo stated at a briefing. "In reality, there aren't many irresponsible professors who would say, 'I submitted my resignation so that I won't come to work.'" In response, the policy ensures that professors who publicly announce their intention to resign will not face disciplinary action for absenteeism without notice. "If the validity of the resignation is in question, we will have to resort to legal action and argue our case in court," said Bae Woo-kyung, head of the media response team at the Seoul National University Medical School and Hospital Faculty Association.
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