South Korea to raise medical school quota to ease shortage
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Doctors’ groups have maintained that simply increasing enrolment will not resolve structural problems in the healthcare system.
PHOTO: AFP
SEOUL – South Korea’s government outlined plans to raise the nation’s medical school intake gradually to ease chronic shortages of doctors, after the previous administration’s push for a sharp increase triggered an unprecedented 18-month walkout by medical professionals.
Under the plan released on Feb 10, the annual quota for 2027 will rise to 3,548, a 16 per cent increase from a longstanding baseline that has anchored quota debates for years.
The intake will then be lifted in stages to 3,871 by 2030, with the government pledging to open new medical schools as part of a drive to ease a shortage of doctors. The country had 2.7 clinical doctors per 1,000 people, well below the average in advanced economies, according to Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development health statistics published in 2025.
The increase marks a scaled-back reset from the previous government’s proposal to add 2,000 seats, a move that sparked mass walkouts by trainee doctors and a boycott by medical students beginning in February 2024. The proposal was ultimately scrapped.
Demographic pressures are intensifying the supply crunch. South Korea became a “super-aged” society in 2025. Policymakers argue that expanding medical school intake is necessary to prevent worsening access to care and to staff regional hospitals that struggle to recruit doctors.
Such concerns prompted the administration of former president Yoon Suk Yeol to announce plans for a dramatic increase in medical school admissions. His proposal drew fierce opposition from physicians and medical students, who warned that it would overwhelm training systems and undermine care quality. Around 10,000 doctors, including interns and residents, walked off the job in protest.
Doctors’ groups have maintained that simply increasing enrolment will not resolve structural problems in the healthcare system. They argue that shortages stem from doctors being concentrated in lucrative urban specialities and have called for broader reforms to improve working conditions, expand teaching capacity and strengthen essential and regional medical services.
Yoon was impeached in 2025 for his failed bid to impose martial law in 2024, and prosecutors have sought the death penalty. Bloomberg
