Medical Community and Government to Engage in Discussions to Resolve Medical Crisis?

Attendance of Minister of Education and Welfare Undecided

Attention is focused on whether the medical community and the government will engage in discussions to resolve the medical crisis.

On the afternoon of the 19th, Park Hyung-wook, Emergency Response Committee Chairman of the Korean Medical Association, is speaking at a meeting between the National Assembly, the Medical Association, and resident doctor organizations held at the Korean Medical Association in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the medical community and the National Assembly on the 23rd, the National Assembly is planning to hold a public forum on the afternoon of the 24th to discuss solutions such as increasing the number of medical school admissions. This forum is being promoted after both sides reached a consensus during a closed-door meeting between medical organizations and the chairs of the National Assembly’s Education and Health and Welfare Committees held at the Korea Medical Association (KMA) headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on the 19th.

Participants expected to attend the forum include members of the KMA Emergency Response Committee, medical school professors, residents, medical students, members of the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee and Education Committee, and senior officials from related government ministries.

Kim Young-ho, a member of the Democratic Party and chair of the National Assembly’s Education Committee, said after the meeting with medical organizations on the 19th, "If the Minister of Education and the Minister of Health and Welfare attend the forum, we hope to candidly discuss all the issues on the ground and hear the government’s responses, so that together we can find a solution to the medical school quota issue for the 2025 academic year."

However, it is reported that the attendance of Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong and Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho at the forum has not yet been confirmed.

Another variable is that the KMA Emergency Response Committee, which is one of the driving forces behind the forum, is a temporary organization scheduled to dissolve after the KMA presidential election in early January next year. The People Power Party effectively declined participation in the forum on the 24th by proposing to the opposition and the medical community to promote a bipartisan parliamentary consultative body after the new KMA leadership is elected early next year.

Meanwhile, separately, the Democratic Party’s Special Committee on Health and Medical Care will hold a forum at 2 p.m. on the 24th under the theme "Overcoming Internal Conflict and Normalizing Medical Education for National Stability," with some members of the medical community. Attendees include KMA presidential candidate Kang Hee-kyung and Kim Sung-geun, spokesperson for the National Council of Medical School Professors.

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