The Korean Council on Medical Education (KCME) urged the government to reduce the medical school enrollment quota for 2026 back to 3,058, the number before the increase of 2,000 additional medical students for 2025, to address the ongoing healthcare crisis.
The Korea Association of Medical Colleges (KAMC) echoed this request during a recent meeting with Minister of Education Lee Ju-ho.
Eight medical education-related organizations, all members of the KCME, co-signed the statement. These include the Korean Council on Medical Education, the Korea Association of Medical Colleges, the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences, the Korean Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation, the Korean Association of Basic Medical Scientists, the Korean Medical Training & Education Center, the National University Hospital Association, and the Private University Hospital Association.
In addition to these eight medical education organizations, the KCME also includes the Korean Medical Association, the Korean Hospital Association, the Korean Medical Practitioners Association, and the Medical Professors Association of Korea as members.
“If students do not return in the first semester of the 2025 academic year and it is delayed until the second semester or later, it will be impossible to produce doctors for the second year in a row,” the KCME said, adding that the number of first-year students in the 2026 academic year will reach 12,000. “If normal medical education becomes impossible and the training of doctors is delayed, there will be a two-year gap in the training of interns and residents after graduation, and a cascading problem will occur in the supply of specialists, military doctors, and public health doctors”.
The KCME referred to the 'Plan to Normalize Medical Education in 2025,' which was approved at a meeting of medical school deans last month, as the essential step to address the issue.
The first of the three conditions was to reset the medical school enrollment for the 2026 academic year to the 2024 enrollment of 3,058 students. The second was that the number of medical students for 2027 and beyond should be determined by the Medical Workforce Supply and Demand Estimation Committee, which should be formed in consultation with the medical community. The third was that the Ministry of Education should provide full support to the institutional, administrative, and financial aspects of medical education to maintain and improve the quality of medical education, the statement said.
“We fully support the KAMC's resolution by collecting the opinions of our member organizations,” KCME said. “This is a desperate call and last chance. We strongly urge the government to make a sincere decision and the Council of Medical School Deans to accept it immediately so that the return of students and the normalization of medical education can occur without delay”.
