Medical school professors at Seoul National University(SNU) have decided to submit resignations en masse next Monday if the government does not present a reasonable solution to trainee doctors’ prolonged collective action in protest of plans to increase the number of medical students. 

The emergency committee of the SNU professors’ council said on Monday that the decision was made in an online meeting of professors at three SNU hospitals, with 430 of the total one-thousand-475 professors in attendance.

Seoul National University College of Medicine plans to hold an emergency forum on Tuesday to discuss the government's plan to increase the medical school admissions quota and its policy on essential medical services. 

Professors at the medical school of Sungkyunkwan University also plan to hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing collective action by trainee doctors. 

Last Thursday, medical school professors at the University of Ulsan decided to submit their resignations.   

With more medical students applying for a leave of absence as part of the collective action, education minister Lee Ju-ho proposed talks with representatives of medical students and asked them to respond by Wednesday. 

As of 11 p.m. last Friday, over 12-thousand trainee doctors at 100 teaching hospitals had left their worksites, accounting for almost 93 percent of junior doctors.