As trainee doctors are showing little or no interest in returning to work from their collective walkout, hospitals are now taking steps to process the resignation of some ten-thousand trainee doctors. 

According to the medical community on Wednesday, hospitals must finish processing the resignations of the non-returning trainee doctors by the end of the day, in accordance with the government's request, in order to confirm the number of trainee doctors to hire in the second half of the year.

The health ministry said the resignation rate of trainee doctors at 211 hospitals nationwide stood at 12-point-four percent as of Tuesday, and the figure is expected to go up further.

Major training hospitals, including the so-called "Big 5" hospitals in Seoul, are also taking steps to process the resignations of non-responsive or non-returning trainee doctors. 

As of Tuesday, the resignation rate of junior doctors at the "Big 5" hospitals stood at 38-point-one percent.