FIRM. An official from the South Korea presidential office on Monday (April 8, 2024) discounted the possibility of deferring the planned increase in medical school enrolment next year. However, the government is open to the adjustment in the minimum target of 2,000 if there is a unified and scientific-based opinion from the medical community. (Yonhap)
SEOUL – The government has no plans to defer the planned increase of medical school admissions set to start next year, a presidential official said Monday.
The official was responding to Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo's comments earlier in the day that the government will carry out an internal review of the Korean Medical Association (KMA)'s recent proposal to defer the quota expansion by a year.
"The government has never reviewed it and has no plans to review it in the future," the official told reporters at the presidential office.
The KMA is the country's biggest doctors' group at the forefront of an ongoing standoff between the medical community and the government over the latter's decision to increase annual admissions to medical schools by 2,000 seats from the current 3,058.
The presidential official reiterated that the government remains open to discussing an adjustment to the number 2,000 "if the medical community proposes a unified opinion based on scientific and rational grounds." (Yonhap)
