Yoon reaffirms plan to increase medical school quotas
President vows to invest $7.5 bil. to improve essential treatment fields
President Yoon Suk Yeol reaffirmed on Thursday the government’s plan to increase the number of doctors in the country by letting more students into medical schools to address shortages of physicians in essential treatment departments and remote, non-urban areas.
Yoon also promised to invest more than 10 trillion won ($7.5 billion) of the national health insurance reserves to increase compensation for physicians in departments less popular among doctors but are critical, such as pediatrics, emergency care and obstetrics.
Those fields have been facing a crisis due to personnel shortages caused by medical students choosing more lucrative disciplines.
Doctors’ groups, which oppose the government’s push to increase the enrollment quota at medical schools, are expected to step up their protests following Yoon’s remarks.
“Now is the golden time to pursue health care reforms,” Yoon said during a government-public discussion on medical reform issues.
“If the government retreats from the medical reform wished by the majority of people due to the objections and resistance of some, it will amount to abandoning the fundamental role of the state.”
The total admission quota of the 40 medical schools in Korea has remained unchanged at 3,058 since 2006. The government has been seeking to raise this quota by at least 1,000 starting in 2025.
According to the health ministry, the number of doctors per 1,000 people in the country stood at 2.6, below the OECD average of 3.7.
The ministry said the country is expected to fall short of around 15,000 doctors in 2035, citing studies carried out by the Korea Development Institute and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
Doctors, however, raised concerns that expanding the number of medical school students could hurt the quality of education and training. They say that the government should instead explore ways to improve the working conditions of physicians and better allocate them.
During Thursday’s discussion, the government did not announce how much the quota will increase annually. It is widely expected to make an announcement after the Lunar New Year holiday, which ends on Feb. 12.
In an apparent bid to appease doctors’ groups, Yoon and the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced policy packages aimed at reducing the legal risks caused by medical accidents and establishing a fairer compensation scheme for doctors for their work. Some other plans were also announced to increase the number of medical personnel, such as nurses, and revive medical services in non-metropolitan areas.
The president vowed to create the conditions for quality medical education and training and to overhaul the system related to medical accidents to help doctors treat patients without facing liability concerns.
An official at the health ministry said that the government created the policy packages after receiving opinions from the Korea Medical Association (KMA), a doctors’ organization, as well as ordinary people, adding there are sufficient justification and public support to expanding the medical school enrollment quota.
Doctors’ groups, however, remain unhappy.
The KMA said later in the day that reviving key medical fields is essential, but the medical school quota hike cannot be the sole solution.
“The government should continue to communicate with the medical sector to complement its policies and come up with follow-up measures,” the association said in a statement.
The Korean Intern Resident Association said on Jan. 21 that 86 percent of 4,200 interns and resident doctors across the country agreed to stage a collective action if the government pushes ahead with the quota hike.
The KMA already carried out a similar survey in December but has yet to announce the result in an apparent bid to use it as leverage during negotiations with the government.