S. Korean President Asserts 2,000 Medical School Admissions Hike As Vital Minimum Measure

SEOUL, Feb 27 (Bernama-Yonhap) -- South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday the government's plan to raise the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 is a "minimum necessary measure" aimed at addressing a shortage of doctors with no room for negotiation or compromise.

“If the people cannot receive timely and proper treatment when sick, the state would not be fulfilling its constitutional duty. Increasing the medical school quota by 2,000 is a minimum necessary measure needed to fulfill that constitutional duty of the state.

“Our country currently faces a significant shortage of doctors, and soon the situation will become more serious,” Yonhap news agency quoted Yoon as saying during a meeting on cooperation between the central and local governments, held at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae.

Trainee doctors protesting the plan staged a mass walkout for an eighth day Tuesday, with around 9,000 resident and intern doctors leaving their workplaces as of Monday, according to the government.

The shortage left patients scrambling to find available hospitals. One woman in her 80s was reported died after waiting for nearly an hour as no emergency room would admit her.

Yoon added the medical reform policy is being pushed with an urgency that this is the last opportunity to save the people and local regions, referring to the government's argument that more doctors are needed to work in essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics and emergency medicine, as well as in rural areas.

"This cannot and should not be a subject for negotiation or compromise. Staging collective action by taking the people's health and lives hostage and threatening the people's lives and safety is difficult to justify under any pretext.

"Even if we raise the medical school quota now, the number of doctors will only start increasing 10 years later. Until when and how do you want us to postpone this?” said Yoon.

Doctors' groups have objected to the plan, saying an increase in medical school admissions will only lower the quality of education without addressing the underlying issues of low compensation and high medical malpractice risks in the fields in question.

-- BERNAMA-YONHAP