A doctor walks through a hallway at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital on Aug. 21, 2020. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The government and a doctors’ lobby agreed Thursday to begin discussions on increasing the number of medical students starting in 2025, officials said.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and the Korean Medical Association (KMA) held a consultative meeting to address various policy issues, including the contentious matter of enrollment quotas for medical schools.
A ministry official said they have come to a consensus to expand the quotas for the 2025 school year, with specific numbers to be determined through further deliberations.
But the KMA, the largest medical doctors’ group in the nation, denied having agreed to such an increase.
“The agreement is not about a rise in the enrollment capacity but means that we will start discussing the matter,” a KMA official said.
The joint announcement released by both parties after the meeting did not explicitly mention the expansion of quotas but included a reference to an “increased number of medical doctors.”
“(Both parties agreed) to come up with and thoroughly implement concrete and comprehensive measures to ensure that the increased number of medical doctors contributes to essential and regional medical care,” the document read.
Physicians have opposed boosting the number of medical students. In August 2020, they organized nationwide strikes that ultimately compelled the government to withdraw its plan to expand enrollment.
(Yonhap)
