Medical School Professors: "Government Blindly Increasing Medical School Admissions Amid Regional and Essential Medical Care Collapse"

Emergency Response Committee of Medical University Professors Nationwide Statement on the 12th

Medical school professors criticized the government for recklessly issuing unreasonable policies to increase the number of medical students, even as regional and essential medical services are collapsing due to the medical school expansion policy.

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The Emergency Response Committee of Medical School Professors Nationwide (Jeon-ui-bi) stated in a position paper on the 12th, "Professors are doing their best under intense working conditions to ensure there are no disruptions in the treatment of severe and emergency diseases, but signs of medical collapse are appearing everywhere," adding, "Professors overwhelmed by excessive workloads are choosing to resign, and research activities are rapidly declining."

They continued, "Regional university hospitals, which the government claimed it would save, are facing existential crises, and students and residents who will be responsible for future medical care have given up on their studies and training," adding, "Starting next year, the production of specialists will be halted, leading to a collapse centered on essential medical services."

They also pointed out that the government is only encouraging expedient measures without offering solutions. Jeon-ui-bi said, "The government is recklessly issuing various unreasonable and dangerous policies to achieve the goal of blindly increasing medical school admissions and suppressing the medical community," adding, "While forbidding medical students from taking leaves of absence, it is promoting expedient measures under the guise of flexible academic management, attempting to adjust the accreditation standards of the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation and obstruct accreditation assessments."

They argued, "Is it truly right to implement policies that prevent students from failing through various expedients?" and insisted, "Even now, the government should recognize students' right to take leaves of absence and listen to their voices."

They also urged that the process of deciding on medical school expansion be thoroughly revealed at the joint 'Medical School Education Review Hearing' to be held by the National Assembly's Education Committee and Health and Welfare Committee on the 16th. They said, "The government insists that medical education will not deteriorate, but it is clear that excessive and rapid expansion of medical school admissions will prevent the training of doctors with proper medical skills," adding, "We hope that this hearing will transparently expose the problems in the decision and allocation process of increasing medical school quotas."

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