Gov't to invest additional 5 trillion won in medical schools as admissions rise

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Gov't to invest additional 5 trillion won in medical schools as admissions rise

Published: 10 Sep. 2024, 19:16

MICHAEL LEE
lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr

A patient and its guardian walk behind ambulances, which are lined up in front of a general hospital in Seoul on Tuesday. [NEWS1]

The Education Ministry announced Tuesday that the government plans to invest an additional 5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) in medical schools over six years to help them cope with the planned hike in annual admissions.

Professional doctors’ associations previously argued the government had failed to consider the teaching capacity of medical schools before deciding to increase annual intake by 1,509 spots, which triggered a walkout by some 10,000 junior doctors from hospitals nationwide.

According to the ministry, 1,000 full-time professors will be recruited to teach in public medical schools by 2027, with 330 positions to be filled by next year.

The government plans to invest another 150 billion won to improve teaching facilities and equipment at public medical schools, while offering 172.8 billion won in low-interest loans to private medical schools.

University hospitals will also be granted 82.9 billion won to build additional classrooms and research facilities, while 167.8 billion won is intended to support research in essential medical fields and rural regions.

The ministry’s announcement came a day after the floor leaders of Korea’s main political parties agreed to try and get representatives of the medical community to join a consultative body intended to end the ongoing junior doctors’ strike.

But People Power Party (PPP) floor leader Choo Kyung-ho acknowledged that the “most important issue is whether the medical community would participate” in the four-way consultative body, which is intended to include the government, both major political parties and the medical community.

His Democratic Party (DP) counterpart, Park Chan-dae, on the other hand, said the government should make a “genuine and compelling offer” to convince the medical community to engage in dialogue.

Vice Education Minister Oh Seok-hwan announces a budget plan to enhance education qualities at medical schools on Tuesday at Central Government Complex in Jongno District, central Seoul. [NEWS1]

The Korean Medical Association, the country’s largest doctors’ lobbying group, said Sunday that it would be willing to join talks only if the government first withdraws its plan to hike medical recruitment next year.

The prolonged strike has strained the country’s health care system, with the number of surgeries across six major cancer categories plunging by nearly 17 percent since February, when the walkout started.

The six leading cancers in Korea are gastric, colorectal, liver, breast, cervical and lung cancer.

According to public health insurance data obtained by PPP lawmaker Han Ze-ea’s office, tertiary hospitals conducted 38,383 surgeries on patients with one of the six diseases from February to July, or 16.8 percent less than the number performed over the same period the previous year.

Six hundred fewer operations for liver cancer were performed from February to July compared to the same time frame last year, while gastric cancer surgeries declined by 1,564.

Over 1,100 fewer surgeries were performed to treat cases of lung cancer, while colorectal and breast cancer-related surgeries declined by 1,311 and 1,266, respectively.

The strike has also exposed tensions within the medical community between doctors who have remained on strike and those who have stayed at their posts.

On Monday, the Health Ministry asked police to investigate who compiled a list of doctors working in emergency rooms through the monthslong strike and posted it online.

The post, which the ministry called an “inexcusable crime,” derided such doctors as “forced laborers” and included their personal information. The list also identified military doctors sent to work in civilian hospitals to make up manpower shortages brought on by the strike.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told the lawmakers on Monday that around 30 people have been referred to the state prosecution service for suspected involvement in doxxing doctors who have not joined the walkout.

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