Seoul, South Korea — SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Desperate to end a weeks-long strike by thousands of doctors, South Korea’s government said Friday it will slow a plan to admit more students to the country’s medical schools starting next year. .
More than 90% of the country’s 13,000 medical interns and residents have been on strike since late February, when the government announced a plan to recruit 2,000 more students next year. This would have increased the current limit of 3,058, which has been the same since 2006, by about two-thirds.
The government adopted a compromise proposal presented by the presidents of six state universities on Thursday that medical schools will increase admissions over several years.
Doctors’ groups claimed that universities would be unable to cope with a sharp increase in students and that this would harm the quality of the country’s medical services. Government officials say the country needs significantly more doctors to deal with the country’s rapidly aging population.
In announcing the compromise proposal, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo cited concerns that the prolonged strike by junior doctors is increasing pressure on hospitals.
Han said that the country’s 32 medical schools will be able to reduce their quotas for new places by up to 50% of the target set by the government in 2025, which means that the number of new places could be closer to 1,000 than 2,000.
Authorities stressed that the commitment is temporary and that schools will be required to finalize plans by April to increase their admissions by 2,000 by 2026.
Doctors’ groups called on the government to abandon the plan entirely.
“The government has decided that the harm caused by gaps in healthcare services cannot be left unchecked and that bold decisions are needed considering the demands of patients and the general public to resolve the problem,” Han said at a press conference , urging striking doctors to return to work and negotiate with the government.
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