▲ On the 1st, when the medical community, including residents and full-time doctors, continues to take a collective leave, a fellow medical worker takes a cell phone photo of medical staff distributing leaflets opposing the government’s push for expanding the number of medical school students and the establishment of a public medical school in front of the main building of Seoul National University Hospital in Jongno-gu, Seoul. is taking pictures. 2020.9.1 Seoul Newspaper DB It has been reported that the expansion of medical school seats scheduled to be announced by the government next week will be more than 1,000 students, which is more than initially expected. It is expected that the timing will be applied from the 2025 college entrance exam, when current high school second year students take the exam.
Summarizing the stories of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and government officials on the 14th, a senior government official said, “The president’s will to expand the number of medical school students is very firm. “The capacity expansion could exceed 1,000 people, a level that could be considered shocking,” he said.
It is known that President Yoon Seok-yeol’s intention is to significantly increase the number of medical school students.
Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Gyu-hong reported the medical school quota issue to President Yoon just before the Chuseok holiday. It is known that this includes a plan to revive the 10% (351 students) of the quota that was reduced immediately after the 2000 medical division scandal and a plan to increase the number of students by 521, focusing on local national universities with a small number of students.
At this meeting, President Yoon reportedly ordered a plan to increase the number of people by more than 1,000 to provide essential medical care and restore the local medical system.
If the number of medical school students increases for the first time in 19 years by more than 1,000 students, it means that the number of students will increase by more than 30% compared to the previous one. As of 2020, the number of medical school graduates in Korea is 7.2 per 100,000 people, which is 56% of the OECD average of 13.6, which is the lowest, but the income of doctors is the highest in the OECD.
The problem is the backlash from doctors. The Korean Medical Association has been clear in its opposition to the issue of expanding the number of medical school students, saying, “What is important is distribution rather than the number of doctors.”
The Moon Jae-in administration announced in 2020 that it would increase the number of students in medical schools by 400 students per year for 10 years, including public medical schools, but this was canceled as doctors went on a large-scale strike.
Reporter Choi Jae-heon
2023-10-15 07:30:01
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