The South Korean government will double the number of trainee doctor representatives on the Residency Environment Evaluation Committee, a body that discusses overall matters related to medical residency training, restructuring it so that trainees hold equal representation with hospitals and professors.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Monday, procedures including nominations from medical organizations are currently underway to appoint members of the fourth committee, after the third committee's term expired last month. The committee is a deliberative body established within the ministry under the Trainee Doctors Act to discuss overall matters related to residency training environments, related policies, and institutional improvements. Membership is capped at 15, with a three-year term.
The new committee will change its composition in accordance with the revised Act on Improvement of Residency Training Environment and Enhancement of Status of Trainee Doctors. The number of members nominated by the Korean Intern Resident Association, the trainee doctors' organization, will increase from two to four, while those nominated by the Korean Hospital Association, representing medical institutions, will rise from three to four.
The Korean Medical Association, representing physicians, nominates one member, and the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, which oversees training curriculum design and specialist examinations as an educators' body, nominates three. Since the KMA customarily nominates a professor, the total number of professor representatives comes to four.
As a result, the new committee is expected to have equal representation of four members each for trainee doctors as workers, hospitals as employers, and professors as educators. The expanded trainee representation increases the likelihood that their positions will be reflected on sensitive issues such as residency quota allocation and the designation or revocation of training hospitals. The remaining three seats will be filled by one ex officio member from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and two appointed experts.
"We plan to swiftly appoint members based on nominations from each organization," a Ministry of Health and Welfare official said. "Under the revised law, we expect the committee to achieve balance with four members each representing trainee doctors, hospitals, and professors."