Medical Associations Voice Unified Criticism
Medical associations have criticized the Physician Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Committee, claiming that discussions regarding the estimated shortage of physicians are proceeding without scientific basis or validity.
On the 12th, Kim Taekwoo, president of the Korean Medical Association (fourth from the left), is speaking at the press conference for the criminal complaint against the former president and others following the Board of Audit and Inspection's audit results on the medical school quota increase procedure, held in front of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
On the 30th, before the committee meeting began, the Korean Medical Association issued a statement saying, "Currently, the Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Committee is conducting hollow discussions based on outdated methods, effectively excluding key variables of the future medical environment such as the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI), advancements in medical technology, and changes in productivity."
The association pointed out, "This directly contradicts the intent of the Board of Audit and Inspection's findings, which emphasized that the validity of the results must be ensured since outcomes can vary significantly depending on assumptions that reflect structural factors."
The association continued, "Due to the excessive increase in medical school quotas, educational sites are already reaching their limits, such as a shortage of classrooms within medical schools. Discussions that focus solely on meeting numerical targets without in-depth consideration of educational conditions are unreasonable." They further argued, "Rushing to an immature conclusion under time pressure is a path toward repeating national mistakes like the '2,000-student quota increase incident.'"
The Korean Intern Resident Association also stated, "Although the Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Committee claims to use a scientific model, in reality, it relies on arbitrary constants while excluding essential variables from the actual medical field. Attempts to justify expanding medical school quotas based on insufficient data are hasty decisions lacking validity."
The association expressed concern, stating, "The committee's failure to fully reflect the actual workload and working days in the medical field, along with its exclusion or conservative estimation of productivity improvements resulting from technological advances, amounts to statistical distortion. Increasing quotas while ignoring fundamental limitations such as faculty numbers and training environments will only result in poor-quality education."
They also asserted, "The government must stop trying to justify its decisions using flawed estimation results. Estimates that distort reality and lack academic validity are no different from the unilateral policy decisions of previous administrations and cannot be accepted."
The National Intern Resident Labor Union also released a statement, noting, "Throughout the 12 rounds of committee discussions, concerns have repeatedly been raised about the limitations of the data and the validity of variable settings, but these concerns have not been adequately addressed. While the current estimation process may serve an administrative purpose, it will not meaningfully advance discussions on physician workforce policy."
The union added, "Policies should first address the avoidance of certain specialties and provide incentives for specialists who have already been trained. It is also essential to restore the collapsed medical delivery system. If increasing medical school quotas becomes the sole objective while excluding these prerequisite issues, unnecessary medical utilization and rising national healthcare costs will become inevitable, and the quality of healthcare will deteriorate in the long term."
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