Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said Monday a change in the size of the government’s plan to boost the medical school admissions quota is “physically not impossible,” indicating that there might be a possibility of adjusting the number despite a “very difficult situation.”
The remarks by Park came as President Yoon Suk Yeol met with one of the leaders of trainee doctors last week and promised to “respect” their stance on the government’s push for medical reform, including the plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota by 2,000.
About 12,000 trainee doctors nationwide have left their workplaces since Feb. 20 to protest the plan to increase medical school admissions, causing a growing strain on public health services.
The government had shown little signs of being open to adjusting the size of the increase in doctor numbers, and it had already allocated the admission quotas to universities. The allocation was seen as a strong sign that the government would not back down.
However, Park sa
id there will be “more confusion” if the government cuts the number.
“In reality, it is a very difficult situation,” Park said. “It is not physically impossible to change the quota before admission guidelines for new students are finalized.” In South Korea, universities typically complete their admission guidelines in late May.
Earlier in the day, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong also appeared to leave open the possibility of adjusting the size of the medical school quota hike.
Cho said the government will discuss the increased admissions quota in an open manner if doctors come up with a unified and more reasonable measure.
“We intend to engage in sincere discussions with the medical community to persuade them and resolve the dispute,” Cho told a government response meeting.
“If (doctors) come up with a more reasonable and unified proposal based on scientific grounds and logic, the government can discuss it in an open manner,” Cho said.
The reform plan has emerged as a hot-button issue for this week’s parl
iamentary elections, with the ruling People Power Party aiming to regain a majority in the National Assembly.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
