The government determined that the shortage of doctors in 2037 will be between 2,530 and 4,800 and decided to keep discussing how much to expand medical school enrollment. Because this is smaller than the figure calculated by the committee for projecting doctor supply and demand, differences are expected between the government and the medical community.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 20th that it held the 4th Health Care Policy Deliberation Commission (Bojeongsim) in Seocho-gu, Seoul, and discussed the scale of doctor training and medical school educational conditions for the 2027 academic year and beyond. Bojeongsim is a health care policy deliberation body that includes the government, health care providers, consumer groups and experts.
Bojeongsim will discuss medical school admission quotas for the 2027 academic year and beyond based on the projections from the committee on doctor supply and demand. The projection committee said in Dec. last year that there would be a shortage of 5,704 to 11,136 doctors in 2040, but earlier this month it revised the figures to 5,015 to 11,136. Based on this, Bojeongsim plans to continue discussions focusing on six models, including supply and demand.
Considering that public medical schools and regions without medical schools may recruit new medical students starting in 2030, 600 seats will be excluded from the expansion process. The government plans to hold a public expert forum on the 22nd to discuss increasing the number of doctors. Minister Jung Eun-kyeong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, "We will make sure the scale of doctor training is reflected in the 2027 academic year college admissions without a hitch."