South Korea’s government today opened a hotline for doctors that the Health Minister said was intended to support physicians who faced harassment or peer pressure if they chose not to join a mass walkout over healthcare reform plans.

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong defended the reforms, which include boosting the number of medical school students, as beneficial for the work conditions of intern and resident doctors. It is a key demand of the nearly 12,000 trainees who have left their posts.

Cho said, the government will take care so that trainee doctors can return to work and remain with the patients without worry.

The move comes amid little sign of an end to the three-week walkout and as some medical professors also threatened to join the protest by tendering their resignations.

The Health Minister said that as of Monday, 5,556 doctors who had left their posts had been served advance notices specifying that authorities would start suspending their medical licenses if they failed to justify their action.