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Trauma surgeon to quit Ajou Hospital

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By Bahk Eun-ji

Trauma surgeon Lee Guk-jong, 51, will step down from his post as head of the regional trauma center at Ajou University Hospital, amid an escalating conflict with the hospital director, media reports said Monday.

Lee Guk-jong, head of Ajou Trauma Center /Yonhap
Lee Guk-jong, head of Ajou Trauma Center /Yonhap
According to a local daily newspaper, Lee said he plans to resign from the position as trauma center head, and will only remain as a professor at Ajou University College of Medicine.

"I will step down from the post as head of the center as soon as I return to the hospital next month. I will also not be involved in the operation of the trauma center anymore," Lee was quoted as saying by the newspaper

Lee returned to the country Jan. 15, after participating in naval maritime training as an honorary lieutenant last month, and plans to return to work Feb.1.

His decision comes after a recent conflict between Lee and high-ranking hospital officials, including Yoo Hee-seok, a director.

Last week, a recording of a conversation between Lee and Yoo was leaked by MBC. In the leaked recording, Yoo was heard referring to Lee using expletives, and called him "subhuman."

Lee admitted that the abusive remarks were directed at him, and the conversation was mainly about the lack of hospital investments into the emergency department at the hospital.

As a public uproar against Yoo intensified, he was accused by a civic group of dereliction of duty and business obstruction. A group of professors at Ajou University College of Medicine also demanded the resignation of Yoo for verbal abuse and bullying in the workplace.

Considering the influence and symbolic significance of the trauma surgeon on the establishment of the center's system as well as his treatment of severe trauma patients, Lee's intention to resign from the center is expected to have a huge impact.

Lee has been pointing out that Ajou University Hospital had been misusing government subsidies and allocating sickbeds between general wards and the trauma center, but this is the first time he expressed his intention to resign.

Chung Kyung-won, chief of the surgery department at Ajou is being mentioned as Lee's possible successor.
Bahk Eun-ji ejb@koreatimes.co.kr


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