"My Hands Shake So Much, I Can't Treat Patients"... Pediatric Emergency Medical Staff Tender Mass Resignations Following Police Raid

[Anchor]

Seven out of nine specialized doctors at Ajou University Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Center have expressed their intent to resign. The fallout from a recent forced police investigation into the emergency center has ultimately snowballed into a mass resignation movement. If this leads to actual resignations, serious disruptions to the regional emergency medical system are feared.

First, reporter Jeong Seong-jin has the details.

[Reporter]

This is the Pediatric Emergency Medical Center at Ajou University Hospital.

Nine specialists work in 24/7 rotating shifts, 365 days a year, to care for pediatric emergency patients.

However, seven specialists at the center, including the head of the center, expressed their intent to resign en masse last night (October 27).

The spark was the death of a 4-month-old infant last July.

The baby, who showed symptoms of cyanosis, died during emergency treatment by the medical staff. After receiving a complaint from the bereaved family, the police conducted a search and seizure at the center on September 30.

The medical staff protested against what they called interference with medical practice and being treated like criminals, demanding an apology. However, it was reported that they ultimately expressed their intent to resign after the police investigation chief, who appeared at yesterday's parliamentary audit, maintained the stance that the investigation was inevitable.

[Ham Young-wook / Head of the Metropolitan Investigation Unit, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency (Yesterday, Parliamentary Audit): I genuinely feel sorry for the pain the medical staff must have experienced and the inconvenience caused to the patients.]

[Han Ji-a / People Power Party Lawmaker (Yesterday, Parliamentary Audit): They say their hands shake so much that they cannot provide treatment within the jurisdiction of that police agency.]

Although resignation letters have not actually been submitted or accepted yet, the news of the mass expressions of intent to resign has shaken the local medical community.

There are only 14 pediatric emergency centers nationwide.

Severe pediatric patients from Gangwon and Chungbuk, which do not have a single center, also turn to Ajou University Hospital. If this center fails to function properly, many children may have difficulty receiving timely treatment.

[Park Su-hyeon / Public Relations Director, Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine: The collapse of a base center that has barely been holding on could be a signal that the entire pediatric emergency medical network nationwide is collapsing. (The medical staff feel) there is no longer any reason to endure here....]

As the rift deepens without proper investigation standards established for essential medical fields, patient anxiety is also growing.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
(Video Reporter: Bae Moon-san | Video Editor: Lee So-young | Designer: Lim Chan-hyeok)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.