Court Sides with Korean Government’s Plan to Increase Medical School Quotas

The striking Korean doctors have lost their court case against the Korean government’s plan to stop the increase of medical students to address the country’s doctor shortage. I wonder what the doctors’ legal defense was against the quota? I can’t imagine they argued for their real reason which was to keep an artificial doctor shortage to ensure they keeping getting high paychecks:

A Seoul appellate court rejected Thursday an injunction sought by the doctors’ community to halt the government’s highly contested plan to increase the nationwide medical school admission quota, paving the way for the first such quota hike in 27 years. 

The Seoul High Court made the decision on an injunction filed by trainee doctors, medical professors and students seeking to suspend the government’s plan to increase the medical school quota by 2,000 starting in the 2025 academic year.

This would pave the way for the government to finalize the first medical school quota hike in 27 years, aimed at addressing chronic shortages in essential but unpopular medical fields as well as remote rural areas. 

With the legal limbo lifted, the government is expected to expedite the process of having increased medical quotas reflected in universities’ 2025 admission announcements to be made public by late May or early June.

Yonhap

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