Presidential office defends medical school quota hike

Politics

Published: 25 Feb. 2024, 18:36

Presidential office defends medical school quota hike

Doctors opposed to the government's proposed hike in medical school admissions arrive at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, after marching from the nearby headquarters of the Korean Medical Association on Sunday. [NEWS1]

The impasse between doctors and the Yoon Suk Yeol administration deepened on Sunday as both sides dug their heels in over the government's plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota.

Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, Sung Tae-yoon, director of national policy at the presidential office, defended the decision to expand medical school admissions to 5,038 from the current 3,038 beginning in 2025 as a conservative increase considering numerous projections of a shortfall in doctors in the coming decade.

“We initially needed 3,000 to fill the shortage of doctors, but the government settled on 2,000 for now in consideration of various factors,” Sung said in response to a question about whether the government is considering decreasing the planned increase.

The government has argued more doctors are needed in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine.

Korea currently has 2.5 doctors per 1,000 people — the second lowest rate in the OECD group of developed nations after Mexico.

A walkout by thousands of intern and resident doctors at major general hospitals in Seoul and elsewhere that began last Tuesday in response to the planned quota expansion has led to dozens of canceled surgeries and medical appointments and growing fears that a protracted strike could lead to a full-blown healthcare crisis.

In another sign of the government’s commitment to the quota increase, the Health Ministry has notified 40 medical colleges and graduate schools to submit detailed plans by March 4 on how they plan to accommodate the influx of students next year.

Two-thirds of all medical schools in the country are classified as small-scale institutions, and they currently collectively train 2,023 medical students.

In response to the government’s enrollment hike policy, medical school admissions directors at Inha University, Gachon University, Jeju National University and other institutions have pledged to expand their intake drastically.

However, these proposals have been criticized by doctors and professors, who argue that medical schools are currently struggling to provide adequate teaching and training resources to students at their current enrollment levels.

The ongoing walkout by intern and resident doctors is expected to escalate as new medical school graduates have also begun to turn down their internships.

Eighty-six of 101 medical school graduates who were due to begin their internships at Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju have resigned, while all 50 incoming interns at Pusan National University Hospital in Busan said they would not take up their positions.

As of Sunday, 8,897 out of 13,000 intern and resident doctors at 96 major teaching hospitals across the country have submitted their resignations, with 7,863 of them walking out on their jobs.

The government sounded its alarm over the doctors’ strike by elevating its four-scale health care service crisis meter to the highest level of “severe” on Friday.

According to local media reports, general hospitals have been forced to cancel up to 50 percent of surgeries and turn down patients seeking emergency care.

But in a meeting on Sunday, representatives of the Korean Medical Association vowed to “resist the government’s unilateral policy implementation with all available legal means until the end,” foreshadowing a showdown with the Yoon administration.

Doctors argue that the government should focus on bolstering their legal protection from malpractice suits and improving compensation to induce more medical professionals to enter unpopular fields rather than increasing the number of doctors.

Many Koreans support the government’s planned expansion of the medical school admissions quota, with a recent Gallup Korea poll finding that 76 percent of respondents supported higher recruitment.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]