"Continued Investment in Medical Reform and Essential Healthcare... New Regional and Public Medical Schools to Be Established Within Five Years"

Minister Chung Eun-kyung Holds First Press Conference as Health and Welfare Minister
Emphasizes Reform of Emergency Medical System and Establishment of Safety Net for Medical Accidents
"National Participation Medical Innovation Committee" to Launch Next Month

The government will proceed as planned with fiscal investments necessary for medical reforms initiated by the previous administration, such as the restructuring of advanced general hospitals. Additionally, the 'National Participation Medical Innovation Committee' (tentative name), set to launch next month, will develop a concrete medical innovation roadmap aimed at normalizing the medical field and resolving distortions in the healthcare system.

On the 22nd, Minister of Health and Welfare Chung Eun-kyung held her first press conference two months after taking office at FKI Tower in Yeouido, Seoul, where she explained the health and welfare policy agenda of the Lee Jaemyung administration. Of the 123 government policy tasks confirmed on the 16th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will carry out 11 key tasks under the vision of "A robust welfare nation, a Korea where everyone is happy."

First, to address regional disparities, expand essential medical services, and strengthen public healthcare, the government will maintain the major direction of medical reforms pursued by the previous administration. This includes establishing new national medical schools and implementing a regional physician system to train doctors responsible for regional and essential medical care.

When asked whether the government would continue with the plan, announced last year, to invest more than 20 trillion won over five years in measures such as raising fees for critical, emergency, pediatric, and obstetric care and restructuring advanced general hospitals, Minister Chung replied, "Since the restructuring of advanced general hospitals, fostering of regional comprehensive secondary hospitals, and raising fees for undervalued essential medical services are currently underway, fiscal investments will proceed as planned."

She added, "Regarding the establishment of a public medical school to train doctors needed in the public sector, such as a public medical academy, we plan to complete the legislative process this year to decide on the location and scale, and reflect the design budget next year." She also noted, "Depending on the speed of policy implementation, the process of establishing the school could take three to five years." The issue of increasing the number of medical students due to the new public medical school will be addressed by the Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Committee, which is currently in operation and will consider the overall medical school enrollment quota. Minister Chung stated, "There was an opinion from the Democratic Party that operating some regional physician quotas within the (overall) medical school enrollment would not constitute an increase."

Issues such as the opening license system and the opening of the cosmetic medicine market, which were scheduled for discussion by the Medical Reform Special Committee last year but were not resolved, will also be discussed further. Jeong Kyung-sil, head of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Medical Reform Promotion Team, explained, "The intention regarding the cosmetic medicine market was not to open it to other professions, but to address the issue of essential medical personnel moving to other markets such as non-insured services. The opening license system was also discussed as part of modernizing license management to ensure that only doctors who have graduated from medical school and have sufficient clinical competence can open clinics." She added, "These issues will be discussed as tasks for creating a sustainable healthcare system by the National Participation Medical Innovation Committee, which will be formed soon."

The most urgent issues in the medical field were identified as the reform of the emergency medical system and strengthening national responsibility for medical accidents in essential medical fields. Minister Chung said, "To ensure that seriously ill patients receive proper treatment in the emergency room, we need to secure the capacity for follow-up treatment. We will change the criteria for designating emergency medical institutions, which are currently based on emergency room standards, to focus on the capacity for follow-up treatment for severe cases and establish an appropriate compensation system accordingly." She continued, "Since it is difficult for all medical institutions nationwide to be on standby 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, we will accelerate related system reforms to build regional networks for emergency severe diseases, ensuring that patients can receive appropriate treatment through well-established transfer and transport systems between medical institutions."

Minister Chung also mentioned a case in which an obstetrics professor and a resident were criminally prosecuted after a baby born by natural delivery was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, saying, "The Ministry of Health and Welfare is concerned that such incidents are significantly undermining the infrastructure for obstetric deliveries." She added, "We will urgently reform the criminal and civil litigation systems for medical accidents to enable settlements that satisfy both patients and doctors." She reiterated her commitment to completing the revision of the fee system by 2030 to ensure appropriate compensation for undervalued essential medical services.

Meanwhile, regarding the Ministry of Health and Welfare's proposal last year to introduce an automatic adjustment mechanism for the stabilization of the National Pension Fund, Minister Chung stated, "When the National Assembly's Special Committee on Pension Reform is activated, discussions will proceed from the perspective of the long-term sustainability of the fund." Regarding the adjustment of the scope of National Pension recipients, she explained, "With the rapid aging of the population, the number of pension recipients and the required budget are increasing significantly. Therefore, we are reviewing various scenarios and fiscal projections to enhance both the sustainability of the National Pension and Basic Pension and the income replacement rate for the elderly."

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