Korea University Medical Center halts support for professor's overseas academic conference due to financial difficulties (South Korea)

As protests by medical residents against the increase in medical school enrollment have dragged on for more than two months, Korea University Medical Center has announced that it will stop supporting overseas academic conferences for professors this year.
This decision is a case where the side effects of financial difficulties at hospitals have become a reality. According to the Korean media Herald Economic Newspaper on the 11th, Yoon Wool-sik, the president and chief of medical affairs at Korea University Medical Center,
On the 9th, the university sent an email to its faculty members stating, "Due to the extraordinary financial situation, the academic research encouragement program that encourages professors to attend academic conferences and build research networks will be suspended until 2024.
"We have decided to temporarily suspend operations," he said. "This is a sudden decision and we believe it will cause a lot of confusion and difficulties," he said. "This decision is not to abolish the project, but a temporary measure. We will revise the plan and
The decision by Korea University Medical Center comes as the number of patients has decreased due to the mass resignation of medical residents in protest against the government's policy to increase the number of medical students.
"The prolonged suspension of work by resident doctors is posing a serious threat to the hospital's sustainability," Yoon said.
He continued, "The situation at other university hospitals is similar to ours, and they are considering reducing fixed budgets, withholding facility investments, extending payment cycles, and restricting salary payments.
As the medical vacuum continues, major university hospitals, including Korea University Medical Center, are running up deficits of up to several billion won (hundreds of millions of yen) and are being forced into emergency management.
Asan Hospital in Seoul, one of the top five hospitals in the country, has been offering voluntary retirements since this month and restricting its employees' participation in overseas conferences. Yonsei University Severance Hospital and Seoul National University Hospital have also declared emergency management.
Sanggye Paik Hospital is asking professors and others to agree to return their salaries.