Anchor: Medical school professors at Seoul National University(SNU) have decided to submit resignations en masse next Monday if the government does not present a solution to trainee doctors’ collective action which has now entered its fourth week. The government has expressed grave concerns over the decision. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has the details. 

Report: The government on Tuesday expressed serious concerns over a decision by medical school professors at Seoul National University to submit their resignations en masse next Monday if the government fails to present what it called a “reasonable solution” to the ongoing collective action of trainee doctors.

Second vice health minister Park Min-soo called on the professors to withdraw their decision, saying the government has faith in the conscience of such professors to uphold the mission of a doctor to protect the lives of patients under any circumstances. 

Park called on the professors to pool their wisdom together with the government to have trainee doctors return, as he cited that the health minister had held a closed-door meeting with junior doctors the previous day.

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.

Meanwhile, professors of the nation’s 16 medical schools are holding an online meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the trainee doctors’ collective action. 

On the status of the nation's medical vacuum, Park said the number of inpatients at top-tier general hospitals had decreased by roughly 40 percent and the number of surgeries had slipped nearly 53 percent compared to before the doctors had walked out. 

Also on Tuesday, the government began operating a center to protect trainee doctors who did not join the collective action and to help junior doctors who wish to return to work. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.