Patient advocacy groups expressed regret after the government finalized plans to train an annual average of 668 additional doctors over five years starting from the 2027 academic year, calling it "a decision where educational conditions took precedence over the essence of supply-demand projections."
The Korea Federation of Patient Organizations issued a statement on the 10th, urging "the government to fulfill its promise to expand quality medical education conditions and implement the physician workforce training policy without setbacks as announced."
The Ministry of Health and Welfare held the 7th meeting of the Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee, comprising medical professionals and patient and consumer groups, on the same day. The committee decided to expand medical school admissions by a total of 3,342 students over five years from 2027 to 2031. Compared to the initial projection of a 4,724 physician shortage by 2037, this represents a reduction of 1,182, reaching only 75% of the original target.
The federation criticized, "Medical school quota increases should be pursued solely based on future patient demand and objective physician supply-demand indicators. Reducing necessary quotas for administrative convenience or temporary difficulties in educational settings contradicts the purpose of establishing the Supply-Demand Projection Committee." The organization warned that such decisions could lead to gaps in essential medical workforce that should be produced in a timely manner, forcing future patients to endure shortages in essential and regional healthcare once again.
The federation demanded prompt legislation for post-expansion management. "To resolve the chronic distortion of personnel allocated to regional medical schools flowing to metropolitan training hospitals, the Ministry of Education's policy of 'reclaiming quotas for non-compliance with regional training' must be materialized through effective legislative amendments," they stated. "We urge strict indexation of compliance requirements so that the fundamental purpose of this expansion—resolving regional healthcare gaps—can be substantially achieved."
Above all, the group emphasized that quality medical education and patient safety must be guaranteed. "Hasty, unprepared expansion will ultimately lead to weakened professionalism in medical personnel, and the resulting risks and social costs will be entirely transferred to patients," they said. "We urge the government to fulfill its national responsibilities, including financial support, to ensure that increased medical students can grow into competent professional medical personnel capable of fully taking responsibility for patients' lives through sufficient practical training resources and faculty expansion."
The federation also pledged to "strictly monitor whether the finalized expansion plan is implemented without setbacks on the ground." They added, "The government must fulfill its responsibility to implement policy without wavering, and the medical community should also fulfill its responsibility for quality medical education rather than merely repeating opposition to the expansion."