It is reported that the government plans to announce a plan to expand medical school admissions as early as next week. Previously, on the 11th, Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Gyu-hong said during the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee’s audit of government affairs, “We will make efforts to increase the number of medical school students starting from 2025.”
According to politicians and medical officials on the 12th, the government, including the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Education, plans to announce the scale and schedule for expanding medical school seats as early as next week. The medical school quota has been frozen for 17 years since it was limited to 5,058 students in 2006. If the number of seats is expanded, it is expected to be applied starting from the 2025 college entrance exam, which is currently held by second-year high school students.
As for the scale of increase, a plan to increase the number of students in medical schools by 351, which was reduced in line with the demands of medical groups that opposed the division of medicine in 2000, and a plan to increase the number of students by 521, focusing on national universities with a small number of students, are being discussed. However, there is a strong public opinion in favor of expanding the number of medical school students, and the government has built up evidence through long-term discussions with the medical community, civic groups, and experts, so the number of students may be larger.
As a result of the agreement with the medical community in September 2020, the government has held 14 meetings with the Korean Medical Association and the Medical Issues Council since January to discuss expanding the number of medical school students. Last August, a physician manpower expert committee was formed under the Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee with members from the Consumer Federation of Korea, the Refresh Workers’ Council, and the Korean Medical Residents Association’s physician manpower expert committee to discuss the matter. The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s announcement to expand the medical school quota is expected to be met with opposition from medical groups, including the Korean Medical Association.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “No decision has been made regarding the expansion of medical school admissions quota.”
[강민호 기자]
2023-10-12 11:32:50
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