Groups representing patients took to the streets on Thursday, calling for an end to doctors' prolonged collective action against the government's medical reforms.

Ninety-two groups, including the Korea Alliance of Patients Organization, staged a rally in front of the Bosingak Pavilion in Seoul, urging the government and the medical community to normalize the medical vacuum.

They denounced the government and groups representing trainee doctors, medical professors and doctors in private practice for engaging in "a consuming debate" without seeking ways to resolve the crisis.

The groups also demanded the National Assembly to enact a new law aimed at preventing a recurrence of the ongoing medical vacuum, so that essential medical services for emergency and critical patients continue to operate regardless of any collective action.