South Korea to gradually increase medical school quota

​​​​​​​By Saadet Gokce

ISTANBUL (AA) - South Korea plans to gradually increase its medical school enrollment quota each year through 2031, the Health Ministry said Tuesday.

The quota will rise by an average of 668 students, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The plan projects the number of students at 3,548 in 2027, and 3,671 in each for 2028 and 2029, up from 3,058 in 2026.

The increase will also apply to the regional doctor track at 32 medical schools outside Seoul.

One public medical school and one regional medical school will be established in the 2030 academic year, each admitting 100 students, raising the medical school quota to 3,871.

The former Yoon Suk Yeol government increased the quota by 2,000 in 2024 to address a chronic doctor shortage, triggering one of the world's longest medical strikes and plunging the country's health care system into a crisis.

The government had promised to reinstate the previous quota if all medical students resumed classes by the end of March in 2025, after a year-long boycott.

The doctors began to return to work around September.