The Korean Supreme Court has rejected the government’s request to cancel the plan to increase the medical student quota by doctors.
The decision made on June 19 means maintaining and completing the previous appeal court’s decision. The court ruled that interns and medical professors had “no basis” to prevent the government from taking measures to increase enrollment quotas and allocate quotas to universities.
“Given the risk of a shortage of doctors in the future, it is worrisome to delay health care reform, because it significantly hinders the expansion of capacity at medical schools, which play an important role in public health.” plus,” the court representative said.
According to the Supreme Court, delaying or canceling the increase in enrollment quotas could cause disruption for high school students who want to pursue this field. The government praised the court’s decision, calling on doctors to return to work.
“We welcome the Court’s decision to reject the applicants’ request for a ban on increasing medical school admission quotas,” said a government representative.
Medical professors, intern doctors and students of Seoul National University organized a protest on June 17. Image: Yonhap
The Supreme Court’s ruling is expected to serve as a precedent for dozens of similar cases pending in lower courts.
The medical crisis in Korea is getting worse as doctors and professors participate in the largest strike in history starting on June 18, organized by the country’s Medical Association.
According to the Ministry of Health, currently only 4% of 36,371 community clinics have stopped operating, not including dental and oriental medicine clinics. Although there was no major chaos, a wave of indefinite strikes is now spreading, especially at five major hospitals. Starting with professors at Seoul National University Hospital, professors at Yonsei University College of Medicine will go on strike indefinitely from June 17.
Asan Seoul Hospital also decided to strike for a week from July 4. St. Hospital Mary Seoul and Samsung Seoul are also discussing this plan.
Meanwhile, the government still maintains its stance of increasing 1,500 medical student places next year (a decrease of 500 from the original number of 2,000). Officials said this is a method of responding to the aging population and allocating more doctors to rural areas.
However, the medical community believes that increasing enrollment quotas will weaken the quality of medical education, causing patients’ medical costs to increase. They believe that the government should first improve salaries and benefits for doctors and strengthen legal protection against medical malpractice lawsuits.