People Power Party Extends Cooperation to Medical Organizations…Joint Response to Essential Medicine Crisis

As the pediatric essential medicine crisis at Ajou University Hospital spread, the People Power Party's Gyeonggi Province Branch extended a hand of cooperation to medical organizations and began joint responses to address medical issues.

According to the People Power Party Gyeonggi Province Branch on the 28th, the party held a policy meeting on that day in the conference room on the fourth floor of the Gyeonggi Province Party headquarters to discuss the crisis in the essential medicine system, judicial and administrative regulations affecting medical professionals, and measures for improving medical institutions. The meeting was attended by committee chair Kim Eun-hye, party cooperation committee chairs including Kim Ki-nam (Gwangmyeong A), Lee Su-jung (Suwon), and Go Seok (Yongin B), as well as medical community officials including Lee Dong-wook, president of the Gyeonggi Province Medical Association, and Kang Bong-soo, general secretary.

This meeting was arranged as an opportunity for the People Power Party to directly hear the voices from the medical field and establish a policy cooperation relationship with medical organizations. Both sides agreed on the need for continued discussions to resolve medical issues.

Committee Chair Kim Eun-hye mentioned the search and seizure at Ajou University Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Medical Center on the 30th of last month and the subsequent seven specialist doctors' collective resignation announcements, stating that "it shocked not only the medical community but the entire nation."

She further pointed out that "investigative activities that ignored the special nature of essential medicine threatened patients who were at a crossroads between life and death, and forced emergency medicine doctors on the front lines to leave their positions."

Previously, it was reported that at Ajou University Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Center, seven of nine specialist doctors expressed their intention to resign following the police search and seizure. However, it is understood that actual submission of resignation letters or retirement has not yet occurred.

The meeting also raised another case that occurred in the southern Gyeonggi Province medical field.

Kim Ok-sook, an advisory member of the Gyeonggi Province Medical Association, claimed that a pediatrician who was participating in emergency childbirth deliveries at night at a hospital in Dongtan, Hwaseong, received a two-year license suspension this year for allegedly instructing a nurse to take X-rays.

Advisory Member Kim emphasized that the hospital has been responsible for nighttime neonatal intensive care in the region and that institutional improvements considering the special nature of the medical field are necessary. However, the specific circumstances and legality of the disciplinary action require separate verification.

President Lee Dong-wook raised the necessity of enacting a Medical Accident Special Handling Act and expressed agreement with continued policy cooperation with the People Power Party.

President Lee stated, "Today's meeting must not be a one-time event," and added, "We must continue to correct flawed medical systems through regular policy consultations going forward."

After the meeting, both sides adopted a joint resolution and urged the suspension of excessive judicial and administrative regulations on medical professionals, improvement of unreasonable medical policies, and establishment of measures to revitalize essential and regional medicine.

In particular, they emphasized that medical practice allowance standards should not differ depending on the size of medical institutions, and demanded consistent regulatory standards considering patient safety and medical professionals' expertise.

The People Power Party Gyeonggi Province Branch and the Gyeonggi Province Medical Association

agreed to establish a policy consultation body going forward to share medical issues and continue joint responses for institutional improvement and recovery of regional essential medicine.