Ahn Cheol-soo: "Medical School Expansion Should Be Postponed for 1 Year... Gradual Increase Needed"

"After a 1-Year Grace Period, a Council Should Be Established for Gradual Increase"

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo argued that a postponement of the expansion of medical school quotas is necessary.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 30th, Ahn participated in a panel discussion at an emergency symposium held by the Seoul National University College of Medicine-Seoul National University Hospital Professors' Council Emergency Committee on the theme "The Path Forward for Korean Healthcare," where he made these remarks.

Ahn urged both the medical and government sides, saying, "Doctors and medical students should return to the patients' side, and the government should create a council to systematically and gradually increase the quota instead of forcibly insisting on 2,000 additional students, by postponing the expansion for one year."

However, he predicted that the possibility of a one-year postponement being realized is low in reality. When Shin Hyun-young, a Democratic Party lawmaker who moderated the discussion, asked, "Based on the contents of yesterday's summit meeting, do you think the one-year postponement proposal is likely to be accepted?" he replied, "Honestly, it will be difficult."

Earlier, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, stated at the previous day's summit meeting, "Medical reforms such as expanding medical school quotas are essential tasks that must be done, so our Democratic Party will actively cooperate." The Presidential Office also announced that President Yoon Seok-youl shared the same view.

Ahn said, "It will be very difficult to accept (a one-year postponement)," adding, "From around this fall, as local medical centers begin to go bankrupt, realistically, some kind of mediation plan might emerge then."