ANKARA

More than 90 advocacy groups in South Korea staged a protest on Thursday, calling on doctors to end their ongoing strike which has worsened healthcare in the country.

Advocacy groups, including the Korea Alliance of Patients Organization and the Korean Organization for Rare Diseases, held a protest rally in Seoul, and urged doctors to return to duty as patients suffered because of the ongoing walkout since February, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

"Under no circumstances should medical services for the patients be suspended, nor should there be any indication that they could be stopped, causing anxiety," the groups said in a joint statement.

"Patients and their families, as well as the public, are experiencing anger, anxiety, and fatigue amid the conflict between the irresponsible government and reckless trainee doctors and medical professors," the agency reported, citing the statement.

South Korea has been facing a health crisis since February as thousands of junior doctors and interns have submitted resignations in protest of the government’s move to create an additional 2,000 spots at medical schools.

They have also been joined by the country’s medical school professors.

The protest has thrown out of gear South Korea’s health system, where the role of junior doctors is critical. Many surgeries have been postponed while hospitals have extended working hours to try to ease the rush of patients.

South Korea’s military has also opened its facilities to help the civilian government amid the health care crisis.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid