"Medical School Quota Increased by 40,000... No Collective Action by Doctors Abroad"

"South Korea Is the Only Country Blocking Medical School Expansion Through Collective Action"
Increasing Medical School Quotas to Prepare for Aging Is a Global Trend

As university hospital residents take collective action such as submitting resignation letters in response to the government's plan to increase medical school quotas, there is criticism that "South Korea is the only country where doctors block the expansion of medical personnel through collective action."

While countries around the world are increasing the number of doctors in preparation for the upcoming aging population, there are no cases of strikes in opposition to expanding medical school quotas.

On the afternoon of the 16th, the Hippocratic Oath ceremony took place at the auditorium of the Ruga Hall, College of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Nam-gu, Daegu, during the medical school graduation ceremony.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 18th, Jeong Hyeong-seon, a professor of Health Administration at Yonsei University, said, "I have conducted research on doctors' strikes in various countries such as France, but I have never seen 'increasing the number of doctors' as a reason for strikes," adding, "In countries like Japan, the medical association actually supported the increase in medical school quotas."

He criticized, "It was wrong to leave a precedent where the government yielded to doctors' collective actions during previous attempts to increase medical school quotas."

Kim Yoon, a professor at Seoul National University College of Medicine, also pointed out, "Although systems vary slightly across countries, overseas cases of doctors taking collective action against the government were for reasons such as wage increases," adding, "Currently, the collective actions of doctors in South Korea are not simply about asking for higher wages like overseas cases, but rather about earning more money based on the premise of patient harm caused by a shortage of doctors."

Japan has increased the number of doctors by about 43,000 over the past decade by applying a "regional framework" based on projected regional medical demand, but there has been no opposition from medical organizations such as collective actions.

The Japan Medical Association stated in a meeting with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, "At the time of promoting the expansion of medical school quotas, there was a social consensus on the shortage of doctors, so the association did not oppose it, and selecting candidates through the regional framework also helped persuade doctors."

Germany is also increasing medical school quotas in preparation for aging. Last year, Thomas Steffen, Deputy Minister of the German Federal Ministry of Health, said in a meeting with Lee Gi-il, Deputy Minister of the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Korean journalists, "The medical school quotas in Germany are also insufficient, and we plan to increase them by more than 5,000 within the year," adding, "There are no doctors in Germany who oppose the expansion of medical school quotas."

While discussions on expanding medical school quotas in South Korea remain stagnant, advanced countries are consecutively announcing bold expansion plans.

Germany, with a population slightly larger than South Korea's (83.17 million), has decided to increase the total quota of public medical schools from 9,000 to about 15,000. The United Kingdom, with a population similar to South Korea's (67.08 million), admitted 8,639 medical school freshmen in 2020 and plans to increase this to 15,000 by 2031. This means that the medical school admission quotas in Germany and the UK will be five times that of South Korea.

As of 2024, South Korea's population is 51.75 million, and the medical school quota has been fixed at 3,058 since 2006 for 18 years. Based on research results from institutions such as the Korea Development Institute (KDI), the government expects a shortage of 15,000 doctors by 2035 and has decided to increase medical school admission quotas by 2,000 students annually for five years starting from the 2025 academic year.