"South Korean Doctors' Strike Escalates as Deadline Looms"

South Korea's government has threatened to arrest thousands of striking junior doctors and revoke their medical licences if they do not return to work, as around three quarters of the country's junior doctors have walked out of their jobs over the past week to protest government plans to admit drastically more medical students to university each year. The doctors argue that training more physicians would dilute the quality of care, while the government warns of an acute shortage of doctors within a decade due to the country's low doctor-to-patient ratio and rapidly aging population. The standoff has caused disruption and delays to surgeries at major teaching hospitals, with the government refusing to accept the doctors' resignations and instead threatening to have them arrested for breaking medical law if they do not return to work.
- South Korea: Doctors on strike face arrest if they don't return to work BBC.com
- South Korean doctors' strike exposes tensions over ageing population Financial Times
- South Korea to send military doctors to hospitals amid doctors' protest Reuters
- Deadline Won't Stop South Korean Doctors' Protest, Group Says Bloomberg
- South Korea strike: Young doctors have until Thursday to return to work The Associated Press
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