Explainer-Why are South Korean trainee doctors on strike over medical school quotas? | Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - Almost 8,000 trainee doctors have walked off the job in South Korea to protest a government plan to admit more students to medical schools, and more are expected to join them.

Trainee doctors say the government needs to address pay and working conditions first before boosting the number of physicians, while authorities say more staff are needed to increase healthcare services in remote areas and meet the growing demands of one of the world’s most rapidly ageing societies.

WHY ARE TRAINEE DOCTORS TAKING SUCH RADICAL ACTION?

Medical interns and resident doctors say they are underpaid and overworked and that their protest shows the system is broken because their absence results in surgical procedures being cancelled and emergency rooms turning back patients.

Industrial action by trainee doctors has been effective in the past, largely because they make up at least 40% of the staff at some major hospitals in Seoul.

Trainees usually work 80 to 100 hours, five days a week, or up to 20 hours a day, conditions they say need to be addressed by hiring more senior staff, and not increasing the number of trainees.