Doctors and Patient Groups Both Oppose Plan to Add 3,300 Medical School Seats Over 5 Years, but for Different Reasons

Korean Medical Association: "Government Fixated on Numbers, Driving Education into Decline"
Patient Groups Criticize "Reduction from Initial Supply-and-Demand Projections"

After the government decided to increase medical school enrollment by a total of more than 3,300 students over the next five years, doctors' organizations pushed back, arguing that the views of the medical community had not been sufficiently reflected. In contrast, patient groups and other demand-side stakeholders issued a series of criticisms, saying that the number of new doctors to be produced through the expansion of medical school seats had been reduced compared to the initial physician supply-and-demand projections.

Kim Taekwoo, president of the Korean Medical Association, is attending a closed-door meeting of the 7th Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee at the Government Complex Seoul in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 10th. 2026.2.10 Photo by Cho Yongjun

On the 10th, Kim Taekwoo, president of the Korean Medical Association, held an emergency press conference at the association's headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and said of the government's plan to increase medical school enrollment, "For the past two years, the Korean Medical Association has engaged in dialogue with a spirit of painful self-sacrifice to prevent confusion in the medical field, but we cannot help but express deep regret and concern as we face a government decision that is fixated solely on numbers and lacks rational reason."

Kim went on to say, "The current medical school education environment is on the verge of collapse. The government's forced implementation is a path that will inevitably lead to poor-quality education."

He said, "When students who took a leave of absence in the 2025 academic year and those returning from military service come back in the 2027 academic year, the number of students will surge to an enormous level," adding, "It will be a shock comparable to the large-scale enrollment increase in the 2025 academic year and will create a situation in which on-site educational infrastructure cannot cope and education becomes impossible." He continued, "The 10% upper limit for teachable capacity emphasized by the Institute of Medical Education Assessment and Accreditation has been thoroughly ignored," and argued, "The government bears full responsibility for the poor-quality educational environment that will be mass-produced in substandard lecture rooms and practice rooms, the ensuing controversy over the competence of the doctors who will be produced, and the collapse of medical education."

Kim is also reported to have left the meeting room before the vote on the expansion plan and not participated in the vote at the Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee (HMPDC) meeting held earlier that day.

In contrast, the Korean Alliance of Patients Organization issued a commentary immediately after the government announced its decision to increase enrollment, stating, "We regret the decision to reduce medical school enrollment, in which the argument about educational conditions took precedence over the essence of the supply-and-demand projections."

The alliance said, "Under the existing supply-and-demand projections, the shortage of physicians in 2037 was estimated at 4,724, but only about 75% of that number will actually be produced," and argued, "The total projected shortage of physicians in 2037, which was scientifically derived by the Physician Supply and Demand Projection Committee, was pushed aside during the HMPDC deliberations under the pretext of medical school educational conditions."

The alliance continued, "Reducing the necessary enrollment on the grounds of administrative convenience or temporary difficulties in the educational field runs counter to the purpose for which the Physician Supply and Demand Projection Committee was established," and expressed concern that "this decision will lead to gaps in essential medical personnel, forcing future patients once again to endure shortages in essential and regional medical services."

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), which cast a dissenting vote in the HMPDC vote that day, also immediately issued a critical statement. The KCTU said, "We cannot accept the HMPDC's decision to increase medical school enrollment while disregarding the supply-and-demand projections," and pointed out, "An enrollment increase that falls short of the projection results is clearly at odds with the principle that served as the starting point of the HMPDC discussions, namely, 'to respect the results of the Physician Supply and Demand Projection Committee.'"

It went on, "If the government scales down and applies the physician supply-and-demand projection results it developed on its own, the predictability and stability of policy will inevitably collapse, and this will, in turn, entrench the structural problem of physician shortages," and urged, "The government must work to expand regional and public healthcare personnel and to resolve healthcare disparities through measures to increase physician numbers based on the supply-and-demand projection results."

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