Yonsei Medical School Professors' Committee: "If There Is No Rational and Scientific Basis, Increase Should Be Withdrawn"

"Unable to Comply with Policy Due to Educators' Conscience" Yonsei

The Emergency Response Committee of Yonsei University College of Medicine professors urged the government to withdraw the policy of increasing medical school admissions, stating that "the chaos in medical education will result in a disaster for the health of the people."

Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the 7th, the Yonsei Medical School Professors' Emergency Committee announced this in a statement. The committee demanded "the presentation of rational and scientific grounds for the (increase) policy that is driving medical education into disaster," adding, "If such grounds do not exist, the most honest measure is to withdraw the plan to increase admissions."

They also argued that the call to withdraw the increase in medical school admissions is not to protect vested interests. The committee stated, "Our professors have no gains or losses from this increase," and "As educators, we declare that we can no longer comply with government policies that force 'poor and abnormal medical education, irregular medical personnel output, and the resulting threat to public health' according to our conscience."

They emphasized that the current situation, where medical students are collectively taking leaves of absence and not returning to school, must be urgently resolved. Since the government's announcement in February to increase medical school admissions by 2,000, most medical students have submitted leave of absence applications, but most schools have not approved them. Instead, they are adjusting academic schedules, such as delaying the start of the semester, to prevent collective failure of medical students.

The committee said, "If the current situation is not resolved and the majority of students take leaves of absence or fail, even Yonsei University College of Medicine, which has no increase plan, will face problems that are difficult to solve," adding, "There will be grades where two cohorts are educated together for the next six years."

They further demanded the government to face reality "so that the chaos in medical education does not lead to the collapse of the entire health care system in our country," and stated, "The government should withdraw the increase policy today to reverse the already begun catastrophe in medical education."