Government: "Maintain a Strong Emergency Medical System... Residents Must Return Quickly"

As the Korea Council for University Education reviewed and approved changes to the 2025 college entrance examination implementation plan, resulting in an increase of 1,509 medical school admissions next year, the government decided to strengthen the emergency medical care system going forward and to steadily implement necessary measures for medical reform across ministries.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the morning of the 27th, Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meeting on doctors' collective action held at the Government Complex Sejong, "The President has urged all ministries to steadily carry out the necessary measures to promote medical reform." He added, "From now on, the government will faithfully implement the President’s requests by having related ministries work together centered on the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters."

The day before, Sung Tae-yoon, the Policy Chief of the Presidential Office, announced in a briefing that President Yoon Seok-yeol had instructed the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Economy and Finance to take follow-up measures suitable for medical reform. According to this, the Ministry of Education was asked to cooperate actively with universities that have increased admissions to ensure thorough preparation for the college entrance examination implementation. The Ministry of Health and Welfare was requested to firmly maintain the emergency medical care system and to do their best so that residents can return to medical sites and complete their training beside patients. Additionally, there was an order to accelerate the prompt concretization and speedy execution of urgent reform policies centered on the Medical Reform Special Committee. The financial authorities were urged to focus on allocating national finances to firmly support medical reform in next year’s budget planning.

The government plans to closely monitor medical sites and maintain a stronger emergency medical care system.

Vice Minister Park said, "To provide more meticulous support to patients with severe, rare, and intractable diseases and their families, who are most anxious about medical gaps, we are strengthening communication with major patient organizations." He added, "To this end, last week, we designated director-level officers for one-on-one contact with 11 major patient organizations to establish a permanent communication system and identify difficulties."

Starting this week, the four specialized committees under the Medical Reform Special Committee will hold their second meetings. On the 28th, the Referral System and Regional Medical Care Committee will discuss support plans for the transition of tertiary general hospitals to specialist-centered hospitals based on the operation status of the emergency medical care system over the past three months. On the 30th, the Medical Accident Safety Net Committee plans to address innovation measures for the medical dispute mediation and arbitration system to provide sufficient opportunities for medical accident appraisal, which is a prerequisite for applying special provisions for medical accident handling.

He repeatedly urged residents who have not yet returned to promptly come back. Vice Minister Park said, "Your colleagues are becoming exhausted, and the suffering of patients and their families is increasing. The longer the return is delayed, the more concerns there are about disadvantages to your career paths." He added, "While staying by patients’ sides, you can create an improved future medical environment, including the training environment improvements you have demanded, through dialogue and discussion."

To medical school professors who withdrew their plan to suspend medical services for a week if the medical school admissions increase was confirmed, he said, "Although the situation is difficult and challenging, I believe all professors share the desire to stay by patients’ sides." He continued, "Now is the time to end conflicts and confrontations that increase public anxiety and suffering. Please participate in the reform process for fundamental innovation of the medical system."