KMA: "If Government Pushes Medical School Expansion, We Will Launch General Strike"

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) announced on the 6th that it will launch a general strike if the government unilaterally pushes forward with the expansion of medical school quotas without consulting the KMA.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the same day, the KMA held an emergency press conference at the KMA Hall in Yongsan, Seoul, stating, "Despite repeated proposals from the medical community, the government continues to announce unilateral policies without sufficient discussion and consultation." They added, "If the government proceeds with the announcement of medical school quota expansion without communication with the medical community, the KMA will immediately disclose the results of the all-member strike approval survey conducted last December and initiate the general strike procedures."

The KMA executive board plans to resign en masse and convene an emergency general assembly to form an emergency committee.

The government is scheduled to hold the Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee meeting in the afternoon to review and decide on the scale of the medical school quota expansion and announce the results.

The increase is likely to be around 1,500 to 2,000 students.

The current medical school quota stands at 3,058 students and has been maintained for 18 years. During the 2000 separation of prescribing and dispensing of medicine, the medical community requested a 10% reduction (351 students) in medical school quotas. Recently, concerns about doctor shortages have emerged in essential medical fields such as surgery and pediatrics, as well as in rural areas. On the 1st, at a public discussion chaired by President Yoon Seok-yeol, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced plans to expand medical school admissions starting from the 2025 academic year, considering that the shortage of doctors will reach about 15,000 by 2035, ten years from now. According to a nationwide survey of 40 medical schools conducted by the government in November last year, universities hope to increase admissions by at least 2,151 and up to 2,847 students in the 2025 academic year. When combined, the scale of medical school quota expansion is estimated to be around 1,500 to 2,000 students.

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