Medical Community: "Increasing Medical School Quotas Will Threaten Public Welfare... The Process of Expansion Must Be Clarified"

"No actual evidence submitted by the government in the trial"
"Medical reform should be discussed with experts in a public forum"

The medical community argued that the government should disclose the data related to the process of increasing medical school quotas by 2,000 students, following the court's dismissal and rejection decisions on the appeal against the 'suspension of execution application for the medical school quota increase order.'

The Korean Medical Association (KMA), the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences (KAMS), the National Council of Medical School Professors (Jeonui Gyopyeop), and the Emergency Committee of Medical School Professors (Jeonui Bi) announced this in a statement on the afternoon of the 17th. They said, "The government's increase in medical school quotas is not for public welfare but will cause a situation that seriously threatens future public welfare," and added, "There is no actual evidence submitted by the government in this trial."

They further demanded the disclosure of all communication and official documents that occurred during the demand survey involving the Ministry of Education, schools, deans, university headquarters, and faculty councils; the entire evaluation and inspection process and reports of medical education review; the expertise and conflict of interest status of the allocation committee members, and minutes of allocation process meetings; the process and results of revising school regulations after quota allocation, official documents related to school regulation revisions received from the Ministry of Education, and whether the minimum number of class days was changed?essentially, all data related to the entire process of increasing the quota by 2,000 students.

They also insisted that medical reform discussions should be held with experts in a public forum. They stated, "We will end the government-controlled medical system that has permeated South Korea and stop all actions that have fostered public distrust in healthcare," and added, "We will ensure that genuine medical reform discussions take place with experts in a public forum, not behind closed doors."

They continued, "The KMA, KAMS, Jeonui Gyopyeop, and Jeonui Bi will continuously evaluate the government's health and medical policies, including health workforce forecasting, based on scientific and rational grounds, and inform the public accordingly to set our country's healthcare system right."

Earlier, the Seoul High Court Administrative Division 7 (Presiding Judges Gu Hoe-geun, Bae Sang-won, and Choi Da-eun) dismissed the appeal against the suspension of execution application filed by 18 individuals including examinees, medical students, residents, and medical school professors, who requested to halt the effect of the policy to increase and allocate 2,000 medical school quotas. The court ruled, as in the first trial, that the applications by medical school professors, residents, and prospective medical students were dismissed because they were not direct parties to the order but merely third parties.

Regarding the application by current medical students, the court recognized their standing as applicants and the urgent necessity to prevent harm but rejected the application, citing that public welfare through medical reform by increasing medical school quotas was more important.