SEOUL: South Korea’s education ministry has agreed to freeze the number of new medical students at about 3,000 a year, it said on Friday (Mar 7), in a bid to end a 13-month dispute involving a walkout by trainee doctors and the boycott of classes.
Thousands of such doctors have walked off the job since February 2024 to protest against a government plan to add more students in medical schools, as both sides disputed the remedies needed to fix the healthcare system in a rapidly ageing nation.
Education Minister Lee Ju-ho set a deadline of the end of March for the return of all trainee doctors if the plan is to go ahead, however.
“Our government’s position that the medical school quota should be increased has not changed,” Lee said. “But restoring trust between the medical community and the government is also very important.”
The long drawn-out dispute led to overstretched emergency care facilities, and delays or cancellations to surgeries.
In a post on Facebook, Park Dan, the head of the Korean Intern Resident Association that represents the trainee doctors, said he felt no need to respond to the government’s “threat”.
The main lobby group for doctors, the Korean Medical Association, said it was up to medical students to decide how to respond to the government’s offer, but it called the plan to boost the quota a “failed policy” and urged fresh talks.
Friday’s offer from the education ministry is a step back by the government after the administration of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol took a firm line in trying to push through its medical reforms.
The government had planned an increase of 2,000 in medical school admissions from 2025, versus 3,000 now, to meet a large projected shortfall of doctors by 2035.
