The allocation of additional places in medical colleges will be announced this week

SEOUL, March 19 (Yonhap) — The South Korean government is expected to announce additional places for medical school admissions this week, going ahead with the plan despite harsh protests from doctors, some officials said Tuesday.

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho is expected to make the announcement Wednesday afternoon after a public address by Prime Minister Han Dak-soo, according to officials.

The announcement of the scheduled allocation will be the culmination of the government's plan, which has met with strong resistance, to increase the enrollment quota for medical colleges by an additional 2,000 places, compared to the current 3,058 places, starting next year, in order to improve health care services in remote areas. , as well as in basic medical specialties, but they are less popular.

More than 90% of the country's 13,000 trainee and resident doctors have withdrawn from their duties in public hospitals across the country since last month in protest against the increased quotas, which they said will erode the quality of care, education and medical services and lead to chaos. Surplus doctors.

Medical professors at several universities also decided to resign en masse next week.

The government is expected to allocate 80 percent, or 1,600 places, to medical colleges outside the capital region, as previously announced.

The allocation, if implemented as planned, would increase the total admission places in medical schools outside the metropolitan area to 3,623, representing 71.6 per cent of the total, compared to the current 66.2 per cent.

This increase is largely expected to benefit medical schools in several public universities located in provincial areas, such as Busan National University and Chonnam National University, as well as small-scale medical schools in areas outside the capital, such as the University of Ulsan.

Once the allocation process is complete, each affected university will have the new medical student quota reflected in its school regulations, as well as in the announcement of medical school admissions for the 2025 academic year, which will be announced to students around May.

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