[KS] Doctor's Strike

[goodwins]

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Hello:

I've been in a bit of a computer vacuum for several weeks now and I was
just wondering whether anyone knows any of the "inside details"
regarding the recent medical workers strike in Korea.

This day's KHerald states: "Tens of thousands of doctors, including
interns and residents, went on a full strike ... protest a government
sponsored medical reform program. The reform draws a clear line between
the responsibilities of doctors and pharmacists, but doctors oppose the
new system as it deprives them of the right to sell drugs, a major
source of income. Under the new scheme ... doctors are prohibited from
dispensing drugs while pharmacists are banned from selling drugs without
doctors' prescriptions."

Can anyone comment on the government's motivations here?

Do these "reforms" herald the deregulation of the prescription drug
industry in Korea; i.e., an imperative being --more or less-- imposed
upon the Korean government by the large U.S. drug manufacturers whose
interests must surely, somehow have been furthered by the general
deregulation/liberalization package that was imposed on Korea by the
WB/IMF back in '97?

Anyone no anything about the political economy of RX drugs in Korea?

Thanks,

Mike Goodwin
(Toronto, CA & College Station, TX)