Regional Doctor Program Takes First Step; Essential Care Reform Must Follow

The initiative to expand medical school admissions to address regional healthcare disparities has begun. The Ministry of Education announced on the 13th that, in conjunction with the introduction of the regional doctor system, it will allocate an additional 490 students to 32 regional medical schools for the 2027 academic year, followed by 613 additional students annually from 2028 to 2031. The expansion is centered on flagship national universities, with Kangwon National University and Chungbuk National University medical schools each selecting 39 students in the 2027 academic year and 49 students annually for four years starting in 2028. Selected students must serve 10 years in their designated regions after obtaining their medical licenses.

This medical school expansion is the first step toward reviving regional healthcare, which faces collapse due to chronic physician shortages. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of doctors per 1,000 residents (excluding dentists and traditional Korean medicine practitioners) stands at 1.4 in North Gyeongsang Province and 1.5 in South Chungcheong Province—less than half of Seoul's 3.4—illustrating severe regional healthcare disparities. Emergency patients are being turned away from hospital to hospital, and closures of regional obstetrics and pediatrics clinics are mounting. The government must ensure thorough follow-up procedures so that this expansion becomes the foundation for cultivating regional healthcare personnel.

In particular, given the significant increase in regional medical school admissions, it is urgent to establish adequate conditions for proper education. The medical community has raised concerns that a rapid increase in medical school enrollment could make normal education impossible due to limitations in faculty and training equipment. In fact, during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, the sudden addition of 2,000 students for the 2025 academic year led to field confusion and educational disruptions. Since the government has stated it will gradually expand personnel, facilities, and equipment in line with each university's enrollment increase, sufficient budget allocation and effective support must follow.

The expansion of regional medical school admissions must be connected to the larger task of strengthening essential healthcare, not merely increasing the number of regional doctors. The ultimate purpose of strengthening regional and essential healthcare is to protect the lives and health of the public. The government must commit to fundamental healthcare reform: adjusting medical fees to realistic levels for underserved fields such as critical care, emergency medicine, pediatrics, and obstetrics; improving the training environment for resident physicians; and reasonably reducing the legal burden for medical accidents. The medical community must also abandon opposition rooted in professional self-interest and join efforts to save essential healthcare from crisis.