S.Korea's government set to announce med school quota rollback to resolve 14-month standoff
The government is set to announce Thursday its decision on the 2026 medical school enrollment quota, with the figure expected to return to the pre-increase level of some 3,000 two years ago in a bid to resolve a 14-month standoff with trainee doctors and medical students, Yonhap reports.
Since February last year, thousands of trainee doctors have left their jobs and medical students have refused to attend classes in fierce protest against the government's push that increased medical school admissions by 2,000 this year.
Education Minister Lee Ju-ho will hold a news conference at the Seoul Government Complex later in the day to announce the number of medical school admissions for next year.
The quota will likely be reverted to 3,058, which is the same as the year 2024 and before.
It is equivalent to the figure before the government put forward a plan to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 a year ago to address a chronic shortage of doctors. The 2025 medical school enrollment quota was hiked to 5,058 under the government policy.
The government has promised to revert to the pre-increase quota level if all medical students return to schools by the end of March after a yearlong class boycott. Even after the deadline, however, many students still continue their protests by refusing to attend classes.
As stated before, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said last September it is impossible to amend the planned increase in the medical school admission quota for next year and the government will launch a new body to estimate the shortage of doctors.
