South Korean president urges doctors to discuss med school admissions

SEOUL - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol urged doctors Monday to discuss together medical school admissions, the number of which the government planned to increase by 2,000 starting next year.

Yoon told a televised address to the nation that the government-set medical school quota hike would be a minimum to tackle the rapidly aging population and provide necessary medical staff in essential specialties and rural areas.

Yoon urged the medical community to offer a unified proposal to the government built on solid and scientific basis, stressing that the government will discuss it anytime if the medical community suggests a more proper and rational option.

About 12,000 medical interns and residents have stayed off the job since Feb 20, while medical professors submitted resignations en masse to protest against the government's plan.

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) speaking for the majority of local doctors said it agreed to the government's overall policy direction, but it emphasized that the increased medical school admissions would not be a fundamental solution but end up with the degraded quality of medical education and services.

The Korean Intern Resident Association (KIRA), a major group representing junior doctors, said that the figure 2,000 was both scientifically groundless and politically motivated to garner votes in the upcoming parliamentary election on April 10.