Doctors criticized the government’s backtracking on its commitment to the 2,000 slots, asserting that it only confirmed that the drastic hike was a policy mistake. Trainee doctors who are amid a walkout reaffirmed their stance, stating they will not return to work unless the government scraps the admission quota hike plan and begin negotiations from scratch.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo announced, Friday, that the government will accept a proposal made by the presidents of six state-run universities the previous day to lower their admissions quota for the 2025 academic year by up to 50 percent.
The request was seen as the universities’ effort to address the prolonged medical standoff, which has now expanded to the education sector. Medical professors have been voicing concerns that their colleges would not be able to accommodate hundreds of new incoming students.
The six universities are Gangwon National University, Kyungpook National University, Gyeongsang National University, Chungnam National University, Chungbuk National University and Jeju National University.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks during a briefing on the government’s decision to accept the request made by six university presidents to allow universities to scale back the allocated number of medical school enrollment quotas, at Government Complex Seoul, Friday. Yonhap
“The government has decided to proactively accept the proposals from the presidents of national universities, in order to actively protect the rights of medical students, normalize education in medical colleges and provide a foothold for resolving the standoff with the medical community,” the prime minister said during a televised briefing.
Han also said that, besides the six universities, other colleges that were allocated new medical school admissions for the 2025 academic year will also be permitted to reduce their intake by up to half.
In other words, the government has allowed all 32 medical colleges, where 2,000 new medical admission seats were allocated, to slash the initially allocated quotas by up to half.
The slots allocated to the aforementioned six universities that made the proposal amount to 1,072. Under the scenario where these six universities reduce their intake by 50 percent, a maximum of 536 slots could be reduced, resulting in around 1,500 slots, down from the government’s initial 2,000.
Further reductions could occur if other colleges, especially private ones, follow suit. If all 32 universities cut their admission quotas by half, this could potentially lower the total quota increase to 1,000 slots.
Friday’s announcement marks the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s first deviation from its steadfast commitment to the 2,000 slots, a figure it had staunchly upheld.
The government had been strongly arguing that boosting the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 per year is a minimum number to address the nation’s shortage of doctors. The fixation on these slots has stirred skepticism among critics, who have questioned the Yoon’s apparent obsession with the number.
Consequently, the prime minister’s remarks were perceived as a substantial concession from the government, and seen as an olive branch extended to the medical community amid the prolonged standoff.
Patients are seen at a general hospital in Daegu, Friday. Yonhap
However, doctors are maintaining a steadfast position.
“The only exit strategy for the government is to acknowledge its missteps and say that it will reconsider from square one,” Joo Soo-ho, former president of the Korea Medical Association (KMA), the largest doctors’ lobby group, wrote on Facebook.
Lim Hyun-taek, president-elect of the KMA, told Yonhap News Agency that the proposal by university presidents to scale back the admission quota has only proved the fact that medical schools cannot physically handle the abruptly increased number of medical students.
“It seems that the government is crafting an exit strategy, but I don’t think this will have a significant impact to our opinions,” said Jung Geun-young, a former representative of junior doctors at Cha University Bundang Medical Center.
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) was also skeptical of the government’s announcement, stating that it was based on input from university presidents rather than medical students or professors, who have a more significant stake in the matter. He viewed that this decision would only serve as a temporary measure.
“Instead of solely relying on university presidents to make decisions, we should allow medical school professors and students in each university to come together and collectively discuss and adjust the number of medical school admissions,” the doctor-turned-lawmaker wrote on Facebook, Friday.
Since late February, over 90 percent of the country’s 13,000 medical interns and residents have been participating in a mass resignation movement to protest the government’s medical school quota hike, leading to serious disruptions in hospital operations. The prolonged strike has also exacerbated the financial deficits of hospitals, prompting some to put their employees on unpaid leave or encourage voluntary retirement.
