A Seoul appellate court rejected Thursday an injunction sought by doctors to halt the government’s highly contested plan to increase the nationwide medical school admission quota, paving the way for the first such quota hike in 27 years.
The Seoul High Court made the decision on an injunction filed by the medical community seeking to suspend the government’s plan to increase the medical school quota by 2,000 starting in the 2025 academic year.
This would pave the way for the government to finalize the first medical school quota hike in 27 years, aimed at addressing chronic shortages in essential but unpopular medical fields as well as remote rural areas.
With the legal limbo lifted, the government is expected to expedite the process of having increased medical quotas reflected in universities’ 2025 admission announcements to be made public by late May or early June.
In March, the government allocated 2,000 additional medical school admission seats to universities, many of them to schools outside the great
er Seoul area, despite trainee doctors’ collective action to walk off their duties at major hospitals in protest.
About 20 legal actions have been taken by the doctors’ community and medical students to halt the quota hike, but no court rulings have been made so far in favor of them.
A lower court had previously dismissed the case, citing the legal ineligibility of those who filed the request, and petitioning doctors have appealed the decision to the Seoul High Court.
Subsequent court deliberations have been centered on whether the increase of 2,000 seats was duly determined with sufficient reasoning and consultation.
Thursday’s court ruling marks the culmination of the monthslong government-medical row over the quota hike plan.
The majority of intern and resident doctors have walked off their duties at major hospitals since late February in collective action protesting the hike, causing disruptions in health care services nationwide.
It remains unclear whether the court decision in favor of the governm
ent would prompt the striking doctors to return to work immediately, particularly given the doctors’ community’s staunch demand to shelve the quota hike plan entirely.
An association of medical professors has warned that it would initiate a one-week suspension of medical services and opt out of services one day every week if the court rejects the injunction.
Source: Yonhap News Agency