South Korea unveils conditional plan to scrap medical school quota hike for 2026

Seoul, March 7 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) The South Korean government on Friday said it will conditionally scrap a contested plan to increase medical school admissions next year to resolve the ongoing health care crisis.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho announced the conditional decision to set the medical school enrollment quota for 2026 at 3,058, which is equivalent to the figure before the government put forward a plan to increase admissions by 2,000 a year ago, Yonhap news agency reported.

Ju-ho said the implementation of the revised quota will be contingent on the condition that all medical students return to classrooms by the end of this month. Medical students nationwide have been boycotting classes and taking a leave of absence in protest of the government’s expansion of the medical school quota.

Earlier last month, the Korean Association of Medical Colleges and Graduate School of Medicine, a consultative body of medical school deans nationwide, proposed that they will persuade medical students to return to classrooms if next year’s medical school enrollment quota is revised back to 3,058.

The presidents of 40 universities with medical colleges across the country also met online on Wednesday and submitted the same recommendation to the government.

“The government respects the recommendation from the presidents of 40 universities on the precondition that all medical students will return to schools by the end of March,” Lee said in a news conference in Seoul.

The minister stressed the implementation of the revised quota will be scrapped if all medical students do not return this month.

The government decision comes amid concerns over disruptions in the country’s health system and medical education should the prolonged walkout by over 10,000 junior doctors continue.

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