Calls for Measures to Guarantee Opportunities for Education and Training
The medical community has voiced its support for the return of medical students and residents who left schools and hospitals in protest against the policy to increase medical school admissions. They are now urging the government and the ruling party to guarantee opportunities for education and training.
Seoul Medical Association
The Seoul Medical Association (the Association) stated in a declaration on the 25th, "The broad-minded return of medical students and residents is not a privilege, but a path toward normalizing the medical system in Korea through the normalization of education and training."
The Association continued, "Medical students and residents are seeking ways to return to the field of education and training, and now the medical community stands at the starting point of this recovery. Medical students and residents are not simply 'returning'; they are striving to complete education and training processes that are difficult to endure even under normal circumstances, without breaks or holidays, and are working to make up for insufficient education and training hours."
In particular, the Association emphasized that the return of medical students and residents is not a privilege, but an inevitable measure for the normalization of the medical system. The timing of their return determines opportunities for advancement, graduation, and taking the national licensing exam, which are directly linked to the supply of medical personnel and the lives of the public, according to the Association.
Furthermore, they stated, "The year 2025 is the golden time to restore the structural disruption in medical education. If this opportunity is lost, not only medical students but also the entire resident training system will collapse in succession, and for years to come, the phenomena of 'tripling' and the discontinuation of specialist training will repeat."
The Association also proposed measures to guarantee opportunities for education and training for medical students and residents to the government and the National Assembly. "Fourth-year medical students should, in principle, graduate in February 2025, and academic schedules should be flexibly adjusted upon reinstatement," the Association asserted. "Irregular solutions such as August graduation or 'cosmos graduation' will only increase confusion and undermine the quality of education."
Regarding leaves of absence due to illness, childbirth, childcare, or military service, the Association stated, "These are not setbacks but personal circumstances that deserve respect," and insisted that "the same academic flexibility should be applied to individual students who were on leave for legitimate reasons."
The Association added, "Even at this moment, countless emergency patients and local medical institutions are struggling with manpower shortages. The longer the return is delayed, the more impossible it becomes to restore the medical system, and the full responsibility lies with the Lee Jaemyung administration. The government and the ruling Democratic Party must make a 'forward-looking decision' that includes comprehensive political and financial support for substantial structural restoration, rather than ineffective slogans."
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