KMA: "Ministry of Health and Welfare Forcing Medical School Quota Decision... Files Public Interest Audit Request with Board of Audit and Inspection"

"Failure to Address Illegality and Unfairness Pointed Out by the Board of Audit and Inspection"

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) announced on January 8 that it will file a public interest audit request with the Board of Audit and Inspection against the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which is pushing to increase the medical school enrollment quota.

Seoul Yongsan-gu Korean Medical Association Hall. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

The KMA stated, "In November of last year, the Board of Audit and Inspection pointed out illegal and unfair practices in the process of expanding the medical school quota, yet the Ministry has not rectified any of these issues and is pressing ahead with the decision for the 2027 quota." "According to the Framework Act on Health and Medical Services, projections of health and medical workforce supply and demand must reflect regional-level estimates as well as projections by specialty and clinical field. However, these detailed analyses were either omitted or handled only in a perfunctory manner," the association criticized.

The association continued, "The Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee (HMPDC), pressed for time, is mechanically citing these inadequate results to hastily finalize the quota. This constitutes an administrative abuse that violates the Board of Audit and Inspection's recommendation to base decisions on sufficient discussion and scientific evidence. The HMPDC also remains a government-centric body that continues to ignore the Board's demands for corrective action."

Furthermore, the KMA declared, "Through this audit request, we will hold the government strictly accountable for failing to implement the audit results and for its habitual illegal administration," urging, "The Board of Audit and Inspection must conduct an immediate and thorough audit."

Meanwhile, the HMPDC-which includes representatives from the government, medical providers, consumer organizations, and experts-held its second meeting on January 6. Based on the physician workforce projections reported by the Physician Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Committee, the HMPDC began full-scale discussions on the size of the medical school quota for 2027 and beyond. The committee plans to finalize the scale of the quota increase based on the estimation committee's findings.