As scheduled, majors such as interns and residents who strongly oppose the government's policy to expand the medical school's capacity, are scheduled for a 24-hour group break from 7 am today.

Following the announcement by the Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hu yesterday morning, the Deputy Minister of Public Affairs Kim Kang-lip met with the executives of the Korea National Council (Daejeon) directly to request a review of the group break plan, but disagreements between the two sides were not narrowed.

The government plans to resolve the conflict by continuing to talk to the medical community, including majors, but it is currently difficult to find a point of contact due to the large difference in admission.

Moreover, the Korean Medical Association, which focuses on opening the hospital, is also predicting a general strike on the 14th, and there are concerns that medical problems and medical gaps may arise.

On the 23rd of last month, the government increased the admission quota for medical schools from the 2022 school year on the 23rd of the previous month to cultivate an additional 4,000 doctors for 10 years, of which 3,000 were selected through the'Special Admission for Local Doctors' and served in a specific area for 10 years. We decided to develop a doctor.

It is planned that 500 of the remaining 1,000 will be recruited by specialty personnel such as epidemiologists, severe trauma, and pediatric surgeons, while the other 500 will be recruited as researchers in basic science, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology fields.

The government emphasized the inevitability of expanding the medical school every day, saying, "The problem of the lack of doctors in our country is getting worse and we have reached a level where we can't afford to neglect it for the future."

Although the number of doctors in Korea is about 130,000, the number of doctors currently active is about 100,000, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare explained that even simple comparison with the average of 160,000 OECD Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is absolutely insufficient.

By region, Seoul has 3.1 doctors per 1,000 population, compared to 1.4 in Gyeongbuk and 1.5 in Chungnam, and the regional variation is very large. Of the 100,000 specialists, 277 infectious medicine specialists and pediatric surgeons The Ministry of Health and Welfare points out that the shortage of manpower in essential medical subjects is serious, with fewer than 50 people.

He emphasizes that he intends to expand the medical school's capacity to overcome this situation, and specifically focuses on reducing the gap in medical services between the metropolitan area and the region by expanding the workforce of insufficient local doctors.

The medical industry is now demanding the withdrawal of the medical school reinforcement plan, refuting that the number of doctors is sufficient considering the rate of population decline and the rate of increase in doctors.

In the medical industry, there is a high voice of criticism of local doctors who have been required to serve for 10 years.

It is pointed out that the local doctor is a policy that hinders the medical student's career exploration and training process.

In a press release on the 4th, the National Assembly criticized that "restricting the working area and major subjects, and depriving or canceling the license if it is not observed, violates the principle of equality and infringes on the freedom of individual career choice."

They also said, "This policy lacks a fundamental answer to the reasons why doctors do not go to the provinces and the lack of manpower in the essential medical field." The government took the easy path and took the impact of the failed policy 10 to 20 years later. "It is only the parties, the doctors and the patients, who are able to take care of themselves."

Daejeon Hyup also said yesterday (6th) through the Facebook entrance statement, “The nation (government), which had lost the right of education for medical students due to the school's failure to properly manage and supervise 50 Southwestern University medical schools two years ago, was a populist policy without measures to improve medical education. "It was released."

They also said, "It costs about 200 to 300 million won to raise a single doctor, so it is necessary to pay more than 1 trillion won in taxes to increase the number of doctors currently being promoted." "It's the policy of a suspicion that drains the finances."

In addition to the medical profession, civic groups are also critical of the government's plans.

It is a structural problem to dualize only the selection method while conducting the same education in the existing medical school.

In a recent press conference, the Citizens' Federation for Economic Justice (Kyungsil-ryun) insisted, "The special screening of local doctors will make it difficult to nurture a sense of self-esteem and self-esteem by creating a strong sense of consciousness between students in general medical school and local medical school."

As an alternative, Kyungshil-yeon suggested the establishment of a public medical school for each region, saying, "In order to cultivate responsible doctors who are committed to local health care, an independent curriculum must be prepared."

It means that the central government or local governments should establish a separate medical school with a capacity of 100 to 150 people.