The South Korean government began today, Monday, deploying 158 military doctors and public health doctors in local hospitals for 4 weeks; to compensate for the shortage in medical staff caused by the doctors' strike.

Yonhap agency quoted Health Minister Cho Kyu-hong today saying: "The government plans, if necessary, to deploy more military doctors and public health doctors."

For his part, John Byung Wang, Deputy Minister of Health, said that the ministry sent prior notices of license suspension to about 5,000 trainee and resident doctors who defied the order to return to work in protest against the government's plan to increase the number of medical students.

John said that with the government's pledge to take legal actions against novice doctors who threaten their colleagues or obstruct their return to hospitals, the ministry will open a hotline tomorrow, Tuesday, to protect doctors wishing to return to work.

The agency pointed out that until Friday, 11,994 trainee and resident doctors left their workplaces in 100 training hospitals, representing about 93% of all novice doctors, according to the ministry.

The Minister of Health said today that the government will be lenient in taking actions if trainee and resident doctors return to work before the completion of administrative procedures to suspend their licenses.

Local hospitals are witnessing cancellations and delays in surgeries and emergency medical treatment, as trainee and resident doctors remained silent towards the government's call for them to return to work by the end of February.

The government is pushing to increase the number of doctors as a means to solve the shortage of doctors in rural areas and basic medical fields, such as pediatrics and neurosurgery.

Doctors say that increasing medical school admission quotas will undermine the quality of medical education and other services, and will lead to higher medical costs for patients.

They called for measures to address low-paid specialists first and improve legal protection against lawsuits related to excessive medical malpractice.