Seoul's medical schools get no new seats despite nationwide quota hike

Social Affairs

Published: 20 Mar. 2024, 18:59 Updated: 20 Mar. 2024, 19:24

Seoul's medical schools get no new seats despite nationwide quota hike

A lecture hall at a medical school in Daegu is empty on Wednesday after students took leaves of absence to protest against the governmental push to expand the admission quota. [NEWS1]

The government may have hiked medical school admissions by 2,000 seats nationwide, but Seoul-based schools will see no change in their admissions.

The Education Ministry on Wednesday allocated 82 percent of new admission slots, or 1,639 seats, to medical schools outside of the Seoul metropolitan area, in line with the government's push to enhance health care access in remote regions.

Only 361 seats are ceded to five medical schools in Gyeonggi and Incheon.

The new enrollment numbers will take effect from February 2025.

“To establish self-sufficient medical infrastructure in rural regions, more than 80 percent of newly added 2,000 spots were allocated to regions far from Seoul,” Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said Wednesday at the government complex in central Seoul.

“The remaining spots are allocated to medical schools in Gyeonggi and Incheon to tackle the medical service disparities between the two regions and Seoul.”

Starting next year, provincial medical schools will account for 72.4 percent of the nation’s yearly medical college quota — 3,662 out of a nationwide enrollment of 5,058.

All medical schools outside Seoul will admit 100 to 200 students starting next year, except Daegu Catholic University and Cha University, which are expected to admit 80 students.

The medical schools of Kyungpook National University, Gyeongsang National University, Pusan National University, Jeonbuk National University, Chonnam National University, Chungbuk National University and Chungnam National University will become the nation's largest, welcoming 200 first-year students annually.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho announces on Wednesday the detailed plan regarding the increase in medical school admissions at the governmental complex in central Seoul. [YONHAP]

The Education Ministry allocated 151 new seats to Chungbuk National University, 124 to Gyeongsang National University, 90 to Chungnam National University and Kyungpook National University and 83 to Kangwon National University.

Admission quotas at Ulsan University and Dankook University’s Cheonan Campus will increase threefold from today’s 40 to 120.

In Gyeonggi and Incheon regions, Gachon University will expand its quota by 90 students, while Sungkyunkwan University and Ajou University will expand their quotas by 80. Inha University and Cha University will increase their enrollment quotas by 71 and 40 students, respectively.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, right, speaks during a public address on governmental medical reform at the government complex in central Seoul on Wednesday. [YONHAP]

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Wednesday that the nation's medical schools could handle the extra 2,000 students a year.

“The 2,000-seat expansion in the medical school admission quota is the minimum to solve the physician shortage,” Han said during his public address on the same day at the government complex in central Seoul after the educational authorities announced the detailed outline for the quota hike.

Han said the government is paying the political cost because compromise would harm the public.

"If the country did not cut medical school admissions by 351 seats in 2000, Korea could have over 6,600 more doctors today and 10,000 more by 2035,” he said.

Han said that concession — made during the 2000 doctors' strike due to drug policy reform — was the fundamental cause of the current impasse between the government and doctors over the admission quota.

“The government fully acknowledges that the quota hike cannot be a sole cure to solve problems in essential and rural health care. The quota expansion is the necessary condition for medical reform and not enough in itself,” the prime minister said.

He said the government would craft policies and build a system to let medical students from regional schools serve in the long term in local hospitals and health care centers.

The education minister said the same day that the country is now in its “golden time” for medical reform, with the quota expansion at medical colleges the first step.

All 40 medical schools nationwide — including Seoul-based schools — asked for an enrollment quota increase of 3,401 spots in early March.

However, the government limited the hike to 2,000 seats.

The government decided how many seats to add at each medical college based on their survey results.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]