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Trainee doctors returning to hospitals as walkout over enrollment increase plan ends

Published: 31 Aug. 2025, 13:00

A staff member walks through the medical school campus of a university hospital in Daejeon on Aug. 28. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Trainee doctors who quit their jobs in protest of the previous administration's increase in medical school admissions are set to return to hospitals this week, medical sources said Sunday.

Their return on Monday comes after the second-half recruitment process mostly wrapped up last week, with the exact number of new or returning trainee doctors to be announced by the health ministry in the coming days.

At Seoul's "big 5" hospitals, the application rate reached 60 to 80 percent, filling approximately 70 percent of the quota at each hospital.

The trainee doctors' return is expected to ease the work burden at hospitals, which are known to have relied heavily on the trainees before they launched their protest early last year.

The standoff began in February 2024, when thousands of trainee doctors walked off their jobs, while many medical students boycotted classes in protest against the government's plan to increase medical school admissions by 2,000 to around 5,000 per year, starting in 2025.

Medical students and now trainee doctors decided to end their collective action after the government reversed course earlier this year, restoring the 2026 admissions quota to its previous level of about 3,000.

Medical industry workers say challenges will remain, as more trainee doctors opt to work in hospitals in the capital area over those outside the capital region, and shun essential fields, such as emergency rooms, pediatrics and obstetrics.

Yonhap