Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), is at risk of impeachment just five months after taking office. The movement to impeach Chairman Lim is in full swing in the medical community due to his responsibility as the head of the Korean Medical Association for failing to prevent the expansion of medical schools and his abusive language that has caused social controversy.
Lim Hyun-taek, President of the Korean Medical Association. Newsis
According to the medical community on the 24th, representatives of the Korean Medical Association proposed an impeachment bill against Chairman Lim for reasons such as failing to block the expansion of medical schools and the nursing law. It has been 5 months since he took office. Cho Hyun-geun, a Busan representative of the Korean Medical Association’s representative council, said in a press release, “103 delegates requested the convening of an extraordinary general meeting of the representative council steering committee to vote on the vote of no confidence in Chairman Lim and the composition agenda.”
According to the Articles of Association of the Korean Medical Association, a motion of no confidence in the president is established upon the motion of more than one-third of the registered delegates or more than one-fourth of the members with voting rights. Currently, there are 246 delegates to the Korean Medical Association, and the 103 who requested to convene a general meeting exceed the requirements for a no-confidence motion (82). Afterwards, if more than two-thirds of the registered delegates attend the general meeting of delegates and a majority of the delegates present agree, Chairman Lim must resign. The time and location of the event will be decided by the National Assembly Steering Committee.
Representative Cho criticized in a motion announced on the 21st when collecting the no-confidence motion, saying, “Chairman Lim has significantly damaged the reputation of doctors and the medical association by pouring out foul language and nonsense through social media on several occasions since he was elected.”
Representative Cho said, “There are senior doctors and junior doctors in the Korean Medical Association. Although they are of different generations, they are engaged in the medical profession with the same heart. “Even though our interests may be slightly different, we all have the same desire to be doctors who care for patients under the right medical system,” he said, adding, “The medical association needs people who can communicate and get along well with all of them.”
Lim Hyun-taek, president of the Korean Medical Association, is answering questions from reporters after visiting a resident who was arrested on charges of creating a blacklist containing personal information of doctors and medical students who did not participate in collective action in the medical community at Seongbuk Police Station in Seoul on the 21st. News 1
Chairman Lim recently received strong criticism both inside and outside the medical community for making a disparaging remark targeting the Presidential Office’s Senior Secretary for Social Affairs, Jang Sang-yoon, saying, “Sounds like a schizophrenic patient.”
In addition, Representative Cho criticized Chairman Lim’s controversy over his attitude at the National Assembly hearing and his arbitrary decision to take an indefinite group hiatus.
The National Association of Medical School Professors, a group of medical school professors, also held a regular meeting on the night of the 23rd to discuss whether to participate in the council, but postponed its conclusion. After the meeting, the Korea Medical Association said, “The council should be composed of medical organizations that can reflect the opinions of residents (interns, residents) and students, and the government should also participate as a person appropriate for resolving the problem, not as a party that triggered the medical crisis.” Iran announced its position.
Hospital groups also decided not to participate in the consultative body. After discussion, the Superior General Hospital Council, a group of hospital directors from 47 tertiary general hospitals, decided not to participate in the consultative body. The Korean Hospital Association is also known to have taken the position that it cannot participate at this stage.
Meanwhile, in the 100-year history of the Korean Medical Association, former Chairman Noh Hwan-gyu was the first and only person to be discredited in 2014. Former Chairman Noh resigned from his position as president of the Korean Medical Association with about a year left in his term when a no-confidence motion was passed at the extraordinary general meeting of the National Assembly in April 2014.
Reporter Kim Ki-hwan kkh@segye.com
[ⓒ 세계일보 & Segye.com, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
