KMA, 'Baesujeojin'... "If Medical School Quotas Increase, Executive Board Will Resign Completely"

Resolution at Emergency Standing Committee Meeting on the Evening of the 5th

The Korean Medical Association has taken a strong stance, stating that the executive board will resign en masse if the government unilaterally pushes for an increase in medical school admissions.

Seoul Yongsan-gu Korean Medical Association Hall. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

According to a report by Asia Economy on the 6th, the KMA held an emergency standing board meeting at 7 p.m. the previous day at the KMA headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, where they passed two motions: "Executive board's mass resignation if the government unilaterally proceeds with increasing medical school admissions" and "Support for medical students and residents in case of legal issues arising during their protests." A KMA official stated, "If the executive board resigns en masse, it will serve as a unifying moment for the medical community," adding, "We also plan not to neglect support for the residents who are forming an emergency countermeasure committee."

This decision came as the Ministry of Health and Welfare was scheduled to hold the Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee, a health policy review body, on the same day to deliberate and decide on the scale of medical school admission quota expansion to be applied in the 2025 academic year.

Meanwhile, as the plan to increase medical school admissions becomes more concrete, the medical community is strongly opposing it. The KMA Medical Policy Research Institute announced on the 5th that 81.7% of the 4,010 doctors who responded to their survey opposed the increase in medical school admissions. The Seoul Medical Association, which launched an emergency countermeasure committee to block the increase, plans to hold a rally in front of the Yongsan Presidential Office on the evening of the 15th. The Korean Intern Resident Association also revealed that in their own survey of about 10,000 residents affiliated with training hospitals nationwide on the same day, 88.2% responded that they would participate in collective actions such as strikes if the medical school admission quota is increased.

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