President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Monday to communicate more closely with the medical community regarding the government’s medical reform plans, his spokesperson said.
Yoon gave the instruction during his weekly meeting with Han at the presidential office as thousands of junior doctors remained off the job for over a month to protest the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 starting next year.
“Please communicate more closely with all sectors of society, including the medical community,” he was quoted as saying by his spokesperson, Kim Soo-kyung.
A day earlier, Yoon had asked the prime minister to look for “flexible” ways to handle the suspension of medical licenses, which the government was expected to enforce against protesting doctors starting Tuesday.
Yoon also asked Han during Monday’s meeting to make utmost efforts to properly manage the April 10 parliamentary elections, with special attention to transporting those with mobility problems t
o the polls.
Han is expected to meet with representatives of the medical community as early as Tuesday.
“It is anticipated that a dialogue platform will be established as early as Tuesday, or at the latest, by the end of this week,” a high-ranking government official said on condition of anonymity.
Source: Yonhap News Agency