The number of trainee doctors who have submitted their resignations still remains at nearly ten thousand as their walkout in protest of the government’s plan to increase the medical school admissions quota entered its eighth day. 

According to the health ministry on Tuesday, inspections of 99 major teaching hospitals found that nine-thousand-909 or 80-point-six percent of resident doctors have submitted their resignations, although their resignations were not accepted.

Of the nine-thousand-909 trainee doctors who handed in their resignations, eight-thousand-939 or 72-point-seven percent have left their jobs. 

On Monday, the government said that trainee doctors will be able to avoid punishment for their collective action if they return to work by Thursday, issuing orders for hospitals to maintain medical treatment. 

The orders are aimed at prohibiting trainee doctors from discontinuing medical services by refusing to renew their contracts or those eligible for residency programs from giving up on the programs without any justifiable cause.

Disruptions in medical services at hospitals are increasing as the walkout by thousands of trainee doctors has continued for over a week. According to the government, newly admitted patients at general hospitals decreased by 24 percent since the walkout and surgeries dipped around 50 percent at 15 general hospitals.