Presidential Office: "Establishment of Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Body... Reflecting Medical Community's Requests"

On the morning of the 22nd, a citizen is passing by the signboard of a medical school in downtown Seoul. [Image source=Yonhap News]

The Presidential Commission on Medical Reform will establish a 'Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Organization' to determine the necessary medical personnel in the future. The plan is to reflect the medical community's views more through this organization.

A senior official from the Presidential Office stated in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 29th, "The Medical Reform Commission recently completed deliberations on the composition direction and operational plan of the Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Organization," confirming this.

The Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Organization will consist of 10 to 15 experts. The majority of expert nomination rights will be given to physician organizations to ensure that the medical community's views are more reflected.

This is in response to the medical community's demand to reflect doctors' opinions more when deciding the future scale of the physician workforce.

The estimation organization will operate as a permanent body, and discussions will be held on the physician quota, etc. Based on the number of medical school graduates, the population structure of our country, and health insurance data, it plans to estimate the necessary medical personnel in the future.

However, the Presidential Office explained that the estimation organization does not replace the ruling and opposition parliamentary consultative body.

The official explained, "The ruling and opposition parliamentary consultative body is a political consultative body discussing what needs to be done for the return of residents, while the estimation organization is a body that calculates reasonable opinions on the medical school quota together with the medical community."

The commission plans to announce details about the composition of experts for the estimation organization soon.