In the future, regulations are expected to be revised to allow medical schools to share cadavers for anatomical training. Currently, dissection practices can only be conducted at the institutions that received the donated bodies, but the government is pursuing measures to facilitate sharing to resolve the discrepancies in cadaver supply among medical schools and improve the training environment.
On the 23rd, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced it will recruit medical schools and general hospitals to participate in the '2025 Cadaver Donation Program for Educational and Research Purposes' until the 2nd of next month. The budget for this year's program is 792 million won, which is three times higher than last year.
The government plans to designate one additional educational cadaver donation institution, separate from the four research donation institutions this year. A total budget of 512 million won will be allocated for the educational institution, which is approximately 7.3 times more than the amount for research institutions (70 million won per institution). Of this, 420 million won will be for operating and equipment expenses, and 92 million won will be for labor costs related to cadaver supply and processing.
According to the current 'Act on the Dissection and Preservation of Cadavers', dissection can only be performed by the institutions that received the donated bodies. However, the government plans to revise relevant regulations to allow sharing of cadavers between institutions in the future. As a result, the educational institutions will play a role in distributing cadavers for training to other universities.
However, controversy over cadaver sharing is also expected. Last year, when the government announced it would expand medical school admissions and pursue cadaver sharing for training purposes, there was strong opposition from the medical community.
Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo noted at the time, “About 1,200 cadavers are donated each year, but only around 800 are actually utilized,” explaining that “some medical schools have surplus while others are lacking.” He added, “We need to revise the existing system that allows donors to designate specific institutions,” and mentioned, “If necessary, we could also consider importing cadavers from abroad.”
Following these comments, 1,360 residents filed a complaint against Vice Minister Park for abuse of power and obstruction of rights, raising criticisms that “the government has objectified the donated bodies.”