Doctors and gov't struggle to negotiate med school quota hike

Social Affairs

Published: 09 Apr. 2024, 16:55

Doctors and gov't struggle to negotiate med school quota hike

A medical professional walks in a compound of a general hospital in Seoul on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

The medical sector and the government are stumped about how to adjust the admission quota increase in medical schools.

The government reversed its position to review a yearlong delay of the quota hike, while the medical sector's internal rift continues to grow.

The presidential office said Monday that the government has “never reviewed an option of delaying an admission quota hike in medical schools” and “has no plan to do so in the future.”

The remarks are in response to a suggestion from Korea’s largest doctors’ group, the Korean Medical Association (KMA), which proposed a yearlong postponement of the quota increase and forming a consultative body to determine the appropriate size for the admission hike.

Earlier that day, Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said that deferring the quota increase for a year would be reviewed internally. He refrained from mentioning whether the option could be accepted or not.

After the April 10 general election, the presidential office will review any detailed alternative proposed by the medical sector and decide whether it will modify the number of admission seats added to medical schools.

“The government leaves a possibility for dialogue [to adjust the size of admissions expansion] if the medical sector presents [an alternative based on] scientific and reasonable grounds [with a] unified voice,” a presidential official said, adding that the office is willing to join the talks “open-mindedly.”

An alternative to the medical school quota expansion has not yet been suggested to the office as of Tuesday.

The official said that the government hopes to have an alternative endorsed by the health care community which is currently encouraging doctors to share their ideas.

On the same day, Park said that it is “not impossible” to downsize the quota hike as the number of admission seats can be adjusted until each university finalizes its admissions criteria.

However, he added that such an option is still “realistically difficult” and likely to cause “chaos” considering the current situation, in which the authority has already allocated the seats to each medical school.

The window of time between the government announcing the admissions quota and medical schools revealing their admissions criteria is short, leaving the medical sector limited time to propose an alternative.

Korean universities set their admissions criteria based on the slots allocated to them. It is impossible to change the quota of incoming students after announcing admissions guidelines.

Preparations to accept some 5,058 new medical school students — reflecting a 2,000-seat hike to the current quota of 3,038 slots — for the 2025 academic year are smoothly rolling out in due course, according to the presidential office.

The office also added that it “would not halt” its preparations for the upcoming academic year.

The presidential official refrained from commenting on the mixed responses toward Park Dan, head of the junior doctors’ group Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), who met President Yoon Suk Yeol last Thursday.

The dialogue between Park and Yoon stirred up controversy among junior doctors, saying such actions were not prearranged nor discussed with his peer colleagues.

Yet the presidential official praised Park for his “courageous behavior of joining the talk [with Yoon].”

A classroom at a medical school in Daegu is vacant on March 25 as students refuse to participate in courses to protest against the government's decision to add admission seats in medical colleges. [YONHAP]

Of the country’s 40 medical schools, 16 have resumed classes to let their students continue their studies without academic penalties, according to the Education Ministry on Monday.

Medical students have been boycotting classes since the beginning of the spring semester to protest the government’s plan to expand medical schools' admission quota. With no students coming to classes, schools postponed their academic calendar.

With a mass flunk imminent, 23 schools are also planning to start courses this month. Only the medical college at Soon Chun Hyang University has not decided whether to commence its semester.

However, student participation in class is not guaranteed.

After mid-April, schools cannot deliver academic courses properly due to limited days left in the semester. This will likely end in mass flunking.

The Enforcement Decree of The Higher Education Act rules that college students must participate in courses for at least 30 weeks per year to advance to the following year's coursework. Most schools have a semester that runs for around 15 weeks. Currently, almost half of the spring semester — mostly starts in March — has passed, which makes it difficult for protesting students to advance to the next academic year.

Additionally, senior students must participate in several 52-weeklong clinical practicing courses to become eligible candidates for state-run medical licensing exams.

The continuing delay will also disqualify medical students in their senior year from taking the license exam.

Per schools' code of conduct, the majority of medical schools must hand out an F grade if their students miss more than one-third or one-fourth of classes per single course in a semester.

These failing grades will flunk the students refusing to return to class.

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