Gov't to increase med school quotas to address doctor shortage

Emergency responders transfer a patient to Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital in Gangseo District, western Seoul, on June 10. [KIM JONG-HO]

The Korean government is expected to increase medical school enrollment quotas as part of its effort to resolve the shortage of doctors in the country.

The quota may increase by over 1,000, up from the government’s initial plan to increase the figure by 500, according to government officials. The details are to be decided and announced later this week.

“Plans to increase the quota by 300 and 500 were initially discussed, but [experts concluded] that there should be over 10,000 new doctors in the next decade to resolve the country’s doctor shortage issue,” a key government official told the JoongAng Ilbo on Friday.

This will require the government to increase the enrollment quotas from 2025.

The high quota increase was reportedly ordered by President Yoon Suk Yeol after Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyoo-hong suggested a proposal to increase the enrollment quota by some 500 students to address the doctor shortage.

The enrollment quota for medical schools in Korea has been fixed at 3,058 since 2006. This would mark the first increase in about 19 years if the government decides to up the number.

The government’s plan comes as the country faces a severe shortage of doctors in essential specialties such as pediatrics and cardiology, especially in regional areas.

There are only 69 pediatric oncologists and 33 pediatric heart surgeons in the country.

Survey results show that the public is relatively positive about the plans to increase the enrollment quota for medical schools in the country.

Twenty-four percent of the 1,003 respondents said the medical school enrollment quotas should be increased by over 1,000, while 17 percent said it should be increased between 300 and 500, and 15 percent voiced a number between 500 and 1,000, according to a survey conducted by Hankook Research, commissioned by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Won-i.

However, the Korean Medical Association (KMA) is strongly protesting against the plan, saying that increasing enrollment quotas will only let more future doctors sign up for popular departments such as dermatology and plastic surgery.

The association also claimed that the government’s unilateral decision broke the trust between them.

“The Health Ministry said in a meeting held in August that it will thoroughly discuss the matter with us,” said Lee Pil-soo, the president of the KMA, adding that they will no longer discuss with the government related issues such as the improvement of systems for doctors in vital fields.

The Health Ministry believes that providing more support for doctors in vital fields and upping the enrollment quota will both be needed to increase the supply of doctors in such fields and in regional areas.

In September 2020, the KMA staged a strike when the government said to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 400 a year. The government scrapped the plan as the protests continued during the Covid-19 pandemic.

BY SHIN SUNG-SIK, PARK TAE-IN, CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]