The government will extend the working period of public health and military doctors who were deployed to hospitals to maintain emergency services, as hospitals are struggling to provide certain services amid trainee doctors’ prolonged collective action.

At a press briefing on Thursday, deputy health minister Jun Byung-wang said as of Wednesday, 15 out of 43 regional emergency centers were unable to provide critical emergency consultations in some areas, such as in obstetrics and gynecology and ophthalmology.

As such, the deputy minister said the deployment of 110 of 154 public health and military doctors set to end Sunday will be extended by another month, while the remaining 44 doctors will be replaced.

Cancer patients in the country will be able to receive post-chemotherapy prognostic management at medical facilities operating in cooperation with general hospitals, after 47 of 168 of them were designated for cancer consultations.

Following President Yoon Suk Yeol's proposal for talks on medical reforms with the trainee doctors, health minister Cho Kyoo-hong urged the doctors to halt their collective action and to engage in dialogue based on a reasonable and united position.