MEDI:GATE NEWS Announcement of medical reform implementation plan without medical community consensus… Minister Cho already confirmed the number of medical school students in 2026

[메디게이트뉴스 조운 기자] The government announced the first implementation plan for medical reform based on a meeting of the Special Committee on Medical Reform held without official medical organizations such as the Korean Medical Association and the Korean Intern Residents Association.

The government repeatedly made meaningless requests to come to the table for dialogue, saying that it desperately needs the medical community’s help, while including the same content that the medical community had previously opposed.

On the 30th, the Special Committee on Medical Reform under the President held its 6th meeting, deliberated and decided on the ‘First Implementation Plan for Medical Reform’, and announced the contents through a briefing.

It was revealed that the medical reform announced on this day contained the same contents as previously announced by the Medical Reform Special Committee, such as innovation in the residency training system, restructuring of upper-level general hospitals, improvement of the number of critical and essential patients, and medical accident safety net.

A total of 20 trillion won will be invested in healthcare reform over the next five years, including 10 trillion won in the national budget and 10 trillion won in health insurance.

In a subsequent briefing, Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong promised that the government would boldly pursue financial investment and legal and institutional improvements to ensure the smooth implementation of the medical reform plan.

Minister Cho explained, “Starting next year, support for the medical sector will shift away from relying on health insurance and boldly support the two axes of national finance and health insurance. Over the next five years, a total of more than 20 trillion won in finances, including 10 trillion won from the national finance and 10 trillion won from health insurance, will be intensively supported to promote medical reform.”

He said, “The training of medical personnel and the resolution of regional medical gaps, which are difficult to resolve with health insurance fees, are areas that require an active role of national finance. The current budget of 800 billion won will be more than doubled, and national support of 2 trillion won per year will begin in earnest. This is a separate investment from the national treasury support of approximately 12.6 trillion won to secure stable income from health insurance.”

Specifically, the government has decided to invest more than 4 trillion won over five years in medical education and residency training to create a new era in the training of medical personnel.

Minister Cho said, “In order to strengthen the national responsibility for residency training, which was left to hospitals, and to dramatically improve the quality of training, we will invest more than 2 trillion won over the next five years. The annual residency training budget, which is only 3.5 billion won, will increase 90-fold to 313 billion won starting next year. This will support comprehensive innovation of the training system, such as strengthening customized close guidance, introducing guidance allowances for supervising specialists, and promoting multi-institutional cooperative training. In addition, we will pay training allowances of 12 million won per year to approximately 5,000 people in eight essential subjects, including pediatrics and adolescent medicine and surgery.”

Additionally, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has decided to invest more than 2.5 trillion won over five years to strengthen regional medical infrastructure.

He said, “We will focus 183.6 billion won on supporting regional national university hospitals so that patients with severe and emergency conditions can receive final treatment locally without having to go to large hospitals in the metropolitan area. We will also introduce 120 billion won in support for the first time to private hospitals so that they can perform essential treatments such as emergency and surgical surgeries during the golden hour. In addition to 100 billion won in facility investment for public hospitals, we will establish and support 62 billion won in operating expenses such as personnel expenses.”

The government promised to invest more than 2 trillion won over 5 years in strengthening essential medical functions, strengthen financial investment to resolve medical accident disputes, and provide 1.5 trillion won in essential medical R&D support over 5 years to create a virtuous cycle between treatment and research.

Minister Cho said, “Despite these efforts, essential and regional medical sites may still feel that there is a shortage. Starting with a fiscal investment of 2 trillion won next year, the government will actively discover innovative financial support projects and continue to expand national investment in core projects,” and “We will quickly establish separate financial support systems, such as the Essential Medical Special Account and Regional Medical Development Fund, through relevant legislation.”

He also said, “The government regards the medical community as a partner in reform, and I believe that our goals for dreaming of desirable medical care are no different. The government intends to discuss detailed implementation plans with the medical community on matters where there are expected to be diverse opinions. Please participate in the relevant discussions.”

Medical school enrollment for 2026 has already been announced, so there is little possibility of change… Medical community, please participate in the discussion of the medical reform special committee

In the Q&A session that followed, a question was asked whether the government’s plan to create a medical reform demand and supply estimation organization within this year would allow discussions on medical school enrollment quotas for 2025 and 2026.

In response, Minister Cho said, “I think we need to consider the fact that the government has already announced its college admissions plan for 2026 medical school enrollment, and that conditions are unlikely to change significantly in the short term. However, if the medical community agrees to use the estimation adjustment system and presents a reasonable alternative for the 2026 enrollment, I think discussions using this estimation system are also quite possible.”

Jeong Gyeong-sil, head of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Medical Reform Promotion Team, also added, “The 2026 medical school enrollment quota was already determined in April of this year, and each school’s admissions plan was announced in May. However, if the medical community participates in the supply and demand estimation organization by presenting rational opinions based on scientific evidence, we will discuss it with an open mind.”

In response to the medical community, including the Korean Medical Association, demanding the dissolution of the Special Committee on Medical Reform and the formation of a separate discussion body, the government said, “The government has decided that it can no longer delay discussions on urgent reform, and has prepared the first implementation plan for medical reform based on a special committee and discussion meetings involving a large number of doctors.”

He said, “In creating detailed implementation plans and implementation measures, we desperately need the help of the medical community, which is familiar with the field. I hope they will participate in the discussions of the Medical Reform Special Committee as soon as possible. And if the medical community wants, we can proceed with discussions of the Medical Reform Special Committee while also conducting separate bilateral consultations.”

Jeong, head of the Medical Reform Promotion Team, said, “It’s been four months since the Medical Reform Special Committee was launched. We’ve had about 60 meetings, including six special committee meetings and about 50 expert committee meetings. That’s one meeting every two days. We’re discussing this diligently. The attendance rate of expert committee members is also high.” He added, “About 50% of the members from the medical community are from academia and hospitals. I hope that the medical community that is not participating in the special committee will also come out and cooperate so that we can have realistic discussions.”