Ministry of Health and Welfare: "If Medical School Quotas Do Not Increase by 2,000, Doctor Shortage Will Persist Until 2045"

Effect of Medical School Expansion in 2025 May Appear as Early as 2031
Increasing the Number of Doctors Even One Year Earlier Is the Solution

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that if the medical school admission quota is not increased by 2,000 students in 2025, the public will have to endure a shortage of doctors until 2045. It stated that after comprehensively considering ▲ the time required to train doctors ▲ the urgency of expanding essential medical services ▲ the increased medical demand due to rapid aging ▲ and opinions from various sectors of society, the minimum urgent scale for increasing medical school admissions is judged to be '2,000 students.'

On the 22nd, Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said at a briefing of the Central Accident Response Headquarters for the doctors' collective action at the Government Complex Sejong in Sejong City, "Even if the medical school admission quota is increased by 2,000 students in 2025, the effects of the increase will appear no earlier than 2031 and no later than 2036," adding, "To resolve the public's suffering caused by the shortage of doctors, the number of doctors must be increased as soon as possible." Considering the 6-year medical school education period and the 4 to 5 years of residency training, he explained that the pace of increasing medical school admissions cannot be delayed any further.

Regarding the scale of 2,000 students, Vice Minister Park said, "It is a policy decision that cannot be delayed any longer to solve the doctor shortage problem, which has been repeatedly delayed due to failures in increasing medical school admissions."

Vice Minister Park explained, "Even if the medical school admissions are increased in 2025, residents will graduate in 2031, and specialists in 2036," adding that specialists will not yet be produced by 2035, when a shortage of 10,000 doctors is expected.

Regarding some claims opposing the government's plan to increase admissions by 2,000 students and suggesting an annual increase of 750 to 1,000 students as preferable, he said, "If the increase is at the level of 750 or 1,000 instead of 2,000, the public will have to endure the suffering caused by the shortage of doctors until 2045."

He said, "Considering the public's suffering due to the shortage of doctors, the solution is to increase the number of doctors as soon as possible, even if by one year."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Vice Minister Park said, "The increase in medical school admissions is not an issue that was suddenly discussed," adding, "The government has held more than 130 discussions not only with the Korean Medical Association but also with hospitals, academic societies, various sectors of the medical community, patients, consumers, and regional figures, and has received opinions on the appropriate scale of increase from various organizations such as the Health and Medical Industry Labor Union and the Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice."

He continued, "Considering the reality of our country's medical system, medical reform can no longer be delayed simply because there is no consensus with the medical community."

Vice Minister Park pointed out, "Long waiting times at large hospitals, repeated visits to emergency rooms, the harsh lives of university hospital doctors who have lost their family life due to frequent on-call duties, the increasing number of medical support nurses at the frontlines, and voices from the field that doctors' tasks are being passed on to nurses and other medical personnel are all phenomena caused by the shortage of doctors."

He said, "This is evidence that our medical system can no longer endure without increasing the number of doctors," adding, "If we fail again or increase the quota by a reduced scale, medical problems will become more serious and will require a rapid increase by an even larger number. Although the increase of 2,000 students is insufficient, we will address the shortages through various institutional improvements reflecting changes in the era, such as the application of cutting-edge medical technology."

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