The number of cancer surgeries has declined about 17 percent since trainee doctors left their worksites in February to protest the government’s push to increase medical school admissions. 

According to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service presented to Rep. Han Zee-a on Tuesday, about 38-thousand-400 patients with six major cancers underwent surgery at top-tier general hospitals between February and July, 16-point-eight percent fewer than a year earlier. 

The six cancers are stomach, colon, liver, breast, cervical and lung cancer.

There were one-thousand-999 liver cancer surgeries during the six-month period, representing the steepest drop from a year earlier at more than 23 percent, while the number of stomach cancer surgeries fell 21-point-seven percent.

Saying top-tier general hospitals cannot perform as many cancer surgeries in the absence of trainee doctors, Han called on the government, rival parties and doctors to join forces to resolve the crisis.