Yoon: "Restoring Collapsed Medical Services Requires Workforce Expansion" ... Emphasizing National Universities for Medical Normalization (Comprehensive)

President Yoon Chairs 'Essential Medical Innovation Strategy Meeting to Save Lives and Communities'
Blueprint to Increase Medical School Quotas After Nearly 20 Years... Government's Firm Commitment
Directives to Reduce Legal Risks for Medical Staff, Adjust Insurance Fees, Revamp Compensation System
Strengthening Essential Medical Delivery System Centered on National University Hospitals... Final Treatment in Local Areas
Political Circles and Public Opinion United... Will Communicate with Medical Association on Approach and Scale

President Yoon Suk-yeol stated on the 19th, "expanding the medical workforce and nurturing talent are necessary conditions to preserve essential regional healthcare and prepare for a super-aged society." This effectively marks the government's official declaration to expand medical school quotas, with a plan to gradually increase the medical school quota, which has been capped at 3,058 since 2006. Although the government has postponed announcing the scale and schedule of the expansion due to concerns over strong opposition from medical organizations such as the Korean Medical Association (KMA), President Yoon and the government remain resolute. There is a consensus among the political circles, including the opposition, and public opinion that the number of doctors must be increased promptly to save essential and local healthcare.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon presided over the "Essential Medical Innovation Strategy Meeting to Save Lives and Regions" at the Gaesin Culture Hall of Chungbuk National University, pointing out the imminent difficulties such as the collapse of essential regional healthcare and regional medical disparities directly related to public health and life, and said, "We must restore the broken supply and utilization system of medical services".

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Yoon: "Expanding Medical Workforce and Talent Development Are Necessary Conditions... Will Communicate Fully with Medical Professionals"

The background behind the declaration to expand the medical workforce by the government, political circles, and even the president is the judgment that expanding medical school quotas is a fundamental premise to solve the current medical service situation and future medical demand trends. The medical quota has been frozen for nearly 20 years, leading to repeated fatal accidents in emergency rooms and pushing local healthcare to the brink of collapse.

President Yoon also emphasized that "expanding the medical workforce and nurturing talent are necessary conditions to preserve essential regional healthcare and prepare for a super-aged society." He added, "We must nurture medical personnel not only clinical doctors but also those in related medical science fields," and explained, "To attract personnel to essential fields such as obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics, legal risk burdens must be alleviated, insurance fees adjusted, and compensation systems restructured." To this end, he also instructed detailed measures such as ▲developing national university hospitals as the core of essential healthcare ▲transferring national university hospitals under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare ▲strengthening treatment capabilities for severe diseases through financial investment and regulatory innovation.

The problem lies in the opposition from medical organizations such as the KMA. They argue that the fundamental cause of the collapse of essential and local healthcare is not the shortage of doctors but poor working conditions. Furthermore, they have warned of a strong response to the government’s announcement, which skipped the process and revealed conclusions prematurely. Previously, in 2020, they responded to the expansion of medical school quotas with a general strike, and medical students and residents refused national exams and collectively stopped working.

The government is also listening to voices that emphasize the need for further consultation with the medical community regarding methods and targets rather than announcing specific details. President Yoon stated, "The purpose of medical innovation is for the people," and added, "I will communicate fully with frontline medical personnel and experts to ensure that policies for the people are effectively implemented."

Political circles also share a unified voice on the 'quota expansion' itself. With a legislative consensus formed between the ruling and opposition parties, the plan to gradually expand medical school quotas starting from the 2025 academic year admissions is expected to gain momentum. However, there are significant differences regarding the method of quota expansion. The ruling party insists that discussions on quota expansion should come first before considering public medical schools or regional doctor systems proposed by the opposition, while the opposition maintains that the government’s plan to expand medical school quotas must include establishing public medical schools and regional medical schools and introducing a regional doctor system to strengthen the essential public regional healthcare infrastructure.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Government Unveils Blueprint to Expand National University Hospital Capabilities... Supports Costs and Enhances Compensation to Secure Workforce

The government also revealed three core tasks aimed at "guaranteeing essential medical care without gaps anytime and anywhere": ▲normalizing the essential medical delivery system ▲securing sufficient medical personnel ▲strengthening the implementation foundation. This means reinforcing the essential medical delivery system centered on national university hospitals so that severe emergency final treatments can be completed locally without having to go to large metropolitan hospitals.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to elevate the capabilities of national university hospitals to the level of large tertiary general hospitals in the metropolitan area. First, it will significantly increase the number of professors in essential medical fields, which are the core of medical capabilities. Through regulatory innovation in public institutions, it will reduce the wage gap with private university hospitals to secure excellent personnel and increase quotas through consultations with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. It will support costs for securing intensive care unit and emergency room beds and personnel and strengthen compensation for essential medical centers.

The government will also conduct pilot projects for regional essential medical networks that cooperate with national university hospitals and local clinics and hospitals to improve medical quality. National university hospitals will have the authority and responsibility as regional accountable medical institutions to lead regional essential medical resource management, supply chain oversight, and performance evaluation of various essential medical support projects and institutions. Currently, there are 14 national university hospitals nationwide. The regions without national university hospitals are Incheon and Ulsan, where Gachon Gil Medical Center (Incheon) and Ulsan University Hospital (Ulsan) respectively fulfill these roles. Additionally, Seoul National University Hospital, National Medical Center, and Cancer Center will be connected as a national central medical network to strengthen regional severe final treatment capabilities.

The government also plans to establish a response system centered on regional national university hospitals for the next pandemic. To this end, it will support national university hospitals in forming and operating city and provincial infectious disease response committees. To foster national university hospitals as hubs of medical innovation, the government will transfer their jurisdiction from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Furthermore, the government will prevent workforce outflow to cosmetic dermatology through focused support packages such as raising essential medical fees and improving working conditions. It will also explore measures to reduce legal burdens on medical personnel and provide patient damage relief in the event of medical disputes to ensure stable practice by essential medical personnel. The state will fully cover compensation funds for unavoidable childbirth medical accidents and increase compensation amounts. The scope of special criminal punishment for medical personnel will be expanded, and support for subscribing to medical liability insurance in essential medical fields will be provided to reduce civil and criminal burdens on essential medical workers. Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong stated, "We will make concentrated investments so that national university hospitals can become the core of essential medical care, health and medical R&D, innovation hubs, and sources of workforce training and supply."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.