Universities call for doubling medical school quota

▲ An official from the Ministry of Health and Welfare holds a briefing on the country's medical school quota in Seoul on Nov. 21, 2023. (Yonhap)

medical school-student quota

Universities call for doubling medical school quota

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- Universities have requested the government to double the medical school quota by 2030, the health ministry said Tuesday, amid growing calls for a sharp rise in the number of students to address the looming shortage of doctors.

Local universities have called for a significant increase of some 4,000 in the medical school quota by 2030, according to a recent two-week survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The universities said the number should be raised by between some 2,100 and 2,800 immediately for next year's college exam.

South Korea has been seeking to expand the medical school quota, capped at 3,058 since 2006, possibly by around a thousand, amid growing concerns over shortages of doctors, particularly in the provincial areas.

The government intends to determine the medical school quota after conducting a comprehensive review of the infrastructure and capabilities of local universities

According to the data provided by the health ministry, the number of doctors for every 1,000 people currently stands at 2.2, far below the average of 3.7 posted by the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Doctors have been strongly protesting against the government's move to expand the number of medical students, claiming that it should instead explore ways to boost compensations for physicians in critical care units.

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