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As gov't sets med school quota hike for coming years, both doctors and patients are unhappy

Published: 10 Feb. 2026, 21:17

A person walks past a medical school logo at a university building in Seoul on Jan. 29. [YONHAP]

The government set the hike in medical school enrollment for the coming years — and few involved are happy.

The enrollment quota for programs outside the greater Seoul area will rise by 490 students in the 2027 academic year, with the goal of adding 3,342 more over the course of five years — an average of 668 per year. All newly added students will be mandated to work in their regions for 10 years after graduation.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare finalized the physician training plan for the 2027 to 2031 academic years at a policy committee meeting held at the Government Complex Seoul in central Seoul on Tuesday. Kim Taek-woo, president of the Korean Medical Association, walked out during the meeting in protest of the decision, which was ultimately approved by a vote.

The decision is a step toward closure in a saga that has gripped the country since late 2022 when the former Yoon Suk Yeol administration started pushing for an increased number of medical school students, especially after suffering from the shortage of doctors during the Covid-19 pandemic. An attempt to force a quota hike led to a prolonged walkout by doctors.

For the 2027 academic year, medical schools nationwide will admit 3,548 students, up 490 from this year’s 3,058. This marks the first increase in admissions in two years following the 1,500-seat expansion implemented for the 2025 academic year under the Yoon administration. Enrollment will then rise in stages: 613 additional seats in the 2028 and 2029 academic years and 813 more in the 2030 and 2031 academic years, including 200 seats at newly established public and regional medical schools. In total, medical schools will enroll 3,342 more students over the next five years.

The decision came after a string of long and intense internal debates. After 12 meetings, the medical work force committee released official projections in December of last year forecasting a shortfall of 5,704 to 11,136 physicians by 2040. Some committee members objected to the estimate, which was significantly reduced from an earlier figure suggesting a shortage of up to 18,700 doctors.

The policy committee subsequently narrowed the estimated physician shortage to a range of 3,662 and 4,200 by 2037, excluding 600 seats at newly established public and regional medical schools. Divided evenly over five years, this would translate to an annual increase of roughly 700 to 800 students.

The Health Ministry initially proposed adding about 580 seats for the next academic year, below the estimated range — a call that enraged both doctors and civic organizations. The final compromise calls for a phased increase beginning in the 2027 academic year, with annual expansions in the mid-600s.

Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong briefs reporters on the government decision to enroll more students at medical schools at the Seoul Government Complex in central Seoul on Feb. 10. [NEWS1]

To account for regional disparities in health care, the government opted for differentiated quota increases of 20 to 100 percent. The measures are intended to strengthen the role of national universities in training essential regional health care workers and to secure adequate enrollment at smaller schools.

Three national universities with fewer than 50 seats each, often referred to as mini medical schools, saw their student number cap raised to 100 percent from 50 percent. National universities with 50 seats or more will face a 30 percent cap. Private medical schools will retain caps of 20 percent for those with 50 seats or more and 30 percent for those with fewer than 50. Counting the input from medical education circles and considerations such as preparation time and students returning from leave, only 80 percent of the planned increase, or 490 seats, will be implemented for the 2027 academic year.

Thirty-two medical schools outside Seoul will be affected by this decision. The additional seats will be tied to the regional doctor system to bolster regional, essential and public health care infrastructure, according to the government. Under the system, students receive support during medical school in exchange for a 10-year mandatory service commitment in the designated region after graduation. Their postings are expected to be in nine provinces.

The decision to raise the quota by 3,342 over five years was unwelcome to both sides. While doctors argued that the government was only making temporary fixes to a fundamentally flawed medical system, civil organizations claimed that the increase was nowhere near enough to fill the void in medical services for the public.

Kim Taek-woo, president of the Korean Medical Association, speaks to reporters on the association's position regarding the government decision to increase medical school enrollment at the association's building in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Feb. 10. [NEWS1]

The Korean Medical Association, which has called for a halt to the expansion, said it would issue a critical statement following an emergency news conference. The association has argued that the estimates lack a solid scientific basis and that the government rushed the decision.

“Right now, fixing the collapsed medical education and health care system should come before arguing over numbers," said Hwang Gyu-seok, the president of the Seoul Medical Association and a vice president of the Korean Medical Association.

Civic and patient advocacy groups took the opposite view.

"The government opted for an increase that falls far short of the physician shortage due to opposition from the medical community, citing educational limits as the reason," said Nam Eun-gyeong, the director of the social policy bureau at the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice. “If the goal is to resolve the doctor shortage and protect public health, enrollment should have been expanded further."

The Korean Alliance of Patients' Organizations also expressed regret that the shortage estimates were “artificially reduced,” warning that this could lead to renewed gaps in essential and regional medical care that patients would be forced to endure again.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG JONG-HOON, KIM NAM-YOUNG [[email protected]]