Hardliner takes KMA presidency

[Anchor]

["I believe it is time for us to gather wisdom to stop the runaway train."]

The Korean Medical Association has elected Kim Taek-woo as the new president, succeeding the former chairman of the association's emergency committee.

New President Kim Taek-woo is known as a hardliner who has demanded the government halt all medical reform policies.

He will lead the medical community until April 2027, completing the remaining term of the former president Lim Hyun-taek, who was impeached last year due to a controversy over inappropriate remarks.

In the medical field, confusion continues, as a patient who was once in cardiac arrest was not accepted by 22 hospitals.

In this situation, there is great interest in the actions of the new leadership of the Korean Medical Association.

Reporter Jeong Yeon-wook has covered the ongoing medical gap that has extended into the new year.

[Report]

In the middle of the night, an ambulance is dispatched to a residential area in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to rescue a woman in her 30s.

This patient, who was once in cardiac arrest, was not accepted by 22 hospitals.

After inquiring with hospitals in Daejeon, Sejong, South Chungcheong Province, and even the metropolitan area, she was finally able to receive treatment in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, about 100km away, more than 3 hours and 30 minutes after the emergency call was made.

[Chungbuk Fire Service Headquarters Official/Voice Altered: "We received notifications from 22 hospitals that they could not accept the patient. There are various reasons such as lack of beds or absence of relevant specialists."]

Since the conflict between the medical community and the government began in February last year, emergency rooms have been unable to function properly.

As residents have left hospitals en masse, only 8.7% of the remaining residents are left in the 211 training hospitals nationwide.

In this university hospital's emergency room, where 7 residents used to work, only 1 remains, and this person is also leaving the hospital this year.

[Kim Soo-jin/Director of the Emergency Medical Center at Korea University Anam Hospital: "Hospitals that handle severe emergencies are increasingly facing staff burnout and turnover, leading to a worsening situation."]

Medical students have decided to continue their protest by taking a leave of absence this year, further contributing to the chaos in the educational field.

Medical professors are also expressing their inability to accommodate about 1,500 new students expected to enroll starting in March.

[Park Min-hyun/Professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine: "As the number of students increases, the learning environment will deteriorate, and there may be conflicts among students."]

If the newly launched leadership of the Korean Medical Association fails to resolve the conflict with the government, the inconveniences faced by patients due to the medical gap will inevitably continue.

This is KBS News, Jeong Yeon-wook.