A South Korean court ruled in favor of the government’s contentious push to drastically boost medical school admissions on Thursday, posing a setback to concerted efforts by incumbent doctors to spike the plan.

A standoff between the government and doctors opposed to the plan has shaken the country’s medical system for months. With broad support from senior doctors, more than 12,000 junior doctors, who are medical interns and residents, have been on strike since February.

The Seoul High Court rejected a request from striking doctors and other opponents to block the plan, which would raise the yearly medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 from the current cap of 3,058.

Lee Byung-chul, a lawyer for the doctors, said he will prepare to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Lim Hyun-taek, the hardline leader of an association of doctors, said his organization will issue a statement on Friday after reviewing the verdict.

Officials have said they want to add up to 10,000 doctors by 2035 to cope with the country’s fast-aging population and a shortage of physicians in rural areas and in low-paying yet essential specialties like pediatrics and emergency departments.

Doctors say schools aren’t ready to handle an abrupt increase in students and that it would ultimately undermine the country’s medical services. But critics argue that physicians, one of the best-paid jobs in South Korea, are mainly worried that having more doctors would lower their incomes.

The request to suspend the enrollment plan was filed by 18 people including doctors, medical students, and others hoping to enter medical schools.

The Seoul High Court ruled the doctors and possible future medical students aren’t qualified to file administrative lawsuits, calling them a third party in the case. The court acknowledged that current medical students can suffer possible damage from the enrollment plan, but still rejected their request to protect “public welfare.” It said a suspension of the recruitment plan could cause “immense” harm to efforts to increase doctors in rural areas and other essential roles.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo welcomed the decision, saying the government appreciates “the wise ruling by the judicial branch.” He said the government will take steps to finalize medical school admission plans for the 2025 academic year by the end of this month.

Han urged the striking junior doctors to return to work immediately, saying it’s difficult to maintain the country’s emergency medical system without them. But South Korean media cited some striking doctors as saying they have no intention of reporting back to work.

The striking doctors are a fraction of all doctors in South Korea, estimated to number between 115,000 and 140,000. But in some major hospitals, they account for about 30 percent to 40 percent of the doctors, assisting fully qualified doctors and department chiefs during surgeries and other treatments while training. Their walkouts have caused cancellations of numerous surgeries and other care at their hospitals and burdened South Korea’s medical services.

In support of their action, many senior doctors at their schools have also submitted resignations, though they haven’t stopped treating patients.

Government officials earlier threatened to suspend the licenses of the striking doctors but later halted those administrative steps to facilitate a dialogue with the strikers.

Longtime TSN broadcaster Darren Dutchyshen has died, the network announced Thursday.

TSN said Dutchyshen died Wednesday at age 57. The cause of death was not provided, but his family said in a statement he was “surrounded by his closest loved ones.”

“His sharp wit remained until his final moments, classically delivering plenty of jokes — most of them pretty good and all of them inappropriate,” his family said.

Dutchyshen revealed he had prostate cancer on Sept. 9, 2021, and spent a year away from TSN while receiving treatment.

He began his TSN career in 1995 and became a mainstay on the network’s flagship SportsDesk and SportsCentre news programs over the next three decades. 

Born in Regina and raised in Porcupine Plain, Sask., Dutchyshen was part of the network’s CFL broadcasts, and also hosted Olympic Prime Time on TSN during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 

“A larger-than-life personality, Darren’s incredible sense of humour and magnetic energy made him a natural broadcaster who connected easily with viewers,” said Stewart Johnston, senior vice-president for sales and sports at Bell Media, TSN’s parent company. 

“His enthusiasm reminded us every day of why we love sports.”

Dutchyshen’s first job as a sportscaster was with STV in Saskatoon, followed by a stint with IMTV in Dauphin, Man. He also spent seven years as the host of ITV’s Sports Night in Edmonton. 

The P.E.I. government has processed fewer than half of the financial relief claims submitted by Island aquaculture harvesters related to damages from post-tropical storm Fiona. 

The storm struck the province in 2022, and caused an estimated $70 million in damages to the aquaculture industry, which includes oyster and mussel growers.  

In early April, under questioning from Opposition Liberal MLA Robert Henderson in the legislature, Fisheries Minister Cory Deagle said he wanted to see the outstanding claims “wrapped up within the next … six weeks.” 

At that time, 30 of the total 116 applications had been approved. With that six-week timeframe now past, the province had approved 43 claims as of May 15. 

Henderson told CBC News this week the delay is causing growers a lot of uncertainty. 

“They’re now starting to hurt,” he said. “Financially, their cash flow has been limited and they don’t know whether to reinvest in their industry. They don’t know whether to hire people, and it’s really having an impact on these fishers.” 

P.E.I.’s aquaculture industry produces 45 million pounds (24 million kilograms) of mussels and 10 million pounds (4.6 million kilograms) of oysters a year, among other products.

With some products needing three to four years of growth before they’re ready for harvesting, Henderson said many growers have already paid for replacement gear out of their own pockets while waiting for their compensation claims to be processed. 

The Canadian Red Cross, which administers the financial relief program on behalf of the provincial government, states on its website that aquaculture applicants are eligible for up to $550,000 in compensation for uninsurable losses from the storm. 

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for P.E.I.’s Fisheries Department said the financial relief program is “evidence-based,” and some claims have needed more information to verify the amount. 

“Each case is different and must be treated with respect to the variety of circumstances, whether that be through external insurance agencies, federal partners, other stakeholders or all of the above,” the statement reads.

“It takes time to ensure the applications are complete and the claims are verified. We are working through files as quickly as possible to ensure they can be successful.”

Pay now, process later?

The process hasn’t been moving quickly enough for harvesters, though, nearly two years on from Fiona. 

The P.E.I. Aquaculture Alliance would like to see some advance payments made to applicants while their claims are being processed. 

“The waiting times that some of the growers are seeing is certainly having an impact on their businesses. We have been hearing from our members about the stresses of waiting for their claims to be finalized,” said Peter Warris, executive director of the alliance. 

“We have requested that they look at making payments, or at least partial payments, advanced to applicants so that the work of doing the actual claims assessment can be done after they have received at least some assistance.” 

Meanwhile, with more extreme weather events likely on the horizon, both the industry and province can at least agree that more support is needed. 

Deagle said last month that he’d like to get the federal government on board with measures similar to what’s available to the agriculture industry through crop insurance.