<Anchor> The



government and the medical association, which had been at odds over current medical issues such as the expansion of medical school quotas and the gap in essential medical care, met again after two years.

Now that the COVID-19 situation has stabilized to some extent, it has been agreed that the consultative body will be activated again to resolve the issue.



I am Yu Seung-hyun, a medical reporter.



<Reporter>



In the summer of 2020, in opposition to the government's expansion of medical school gardens and the promotion of the establishment of public medical schools, majors went on a collective break and medical students refused to take the national exam.



After a month of confrontation, the government and the Medical Association formed a 'Uijeonghyeobuiche', but only held seven meetings until February 2021, and the full-fledged discussion due to the corona epidemic stopped without even starting.



Judging that the corona situation has stabilized enough to ease the indoor mask duty next week, the Minister of Health and Welfare and the head of the Medical Association met again after two years.



[Cho Kyu-Hong/Minister of Health and Welfare: We plan to discuss in depth various measures to achieve the common goal of promoting public health and developing health care.]



Expansion of the quota of medical schools and strengthening of essential medical services are still issues.



In 2020, the government put forward a plan to increase the number of medical schools that have been frozen for more than 10 years by 400 each year to train 4,000 additional students over 10 years.



It is inevitable to reduce the medical gap between regions and train doctors in essential fields such as pediatric surgery and severe trauma.



However, the medical association argues that the problem is not a shortage of doctors in general, but a shortage of doctors in essential medical fields, and that problems such as low fees, poor working conditions, and medical malpractice immunity must be addressed first.



[Kim Yi-yeon/Director of Public Relations of the Korean Medical Association: If the poor situation in the field is not resolved, it is difficult to expect good doctors to go there simply because the number of manpower increases.]



Starting with the first consultative body next Monday, the two sides continued discussions every week. decided to go



(Video coverage: Hwang In-seok, Video editing: Kim Ho-jin, CG: Hong Seong-yong, Jegal-chan)