2 consultative bodies submit minutes regarding increasing number of medical students

Two of four consultative bodies operated by the South Korean government with regard to the decision to increase the number of students accepted into medical schools submitted their meeting minutes to a court on Friday. It was in response to the court’s request made on April 30 during an appeal hearing for the suspension of execution of the increase for the submission of evidence to back the decision to increase the number by 2,000 and other supporting data, including allocation policies, by Friday.

As the Department of Justice announced that the final decision will be made by mid-May, the judgment of the appeal hearing is expected to be announced between Monday and Friday. “Stenographic records will be submitted if available, according to the law. Otherwise, all relevant documents for meetings will be submitted,” said the Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo during a briefing of the central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters on Friday. “In addition to the list of documents requested by the court, we will dutifully submit any document necessary for explanation with as much data as possible.”

The consultative bodies run by the government to discuss increasing the number of medical students are the consultative body on current medical issues, the health and medical policy deliberative committee, the special committee of medical doctors, and the allocation committee of medical students. Among them, the health and medical policy deliberative committee and the special committee of medical doctors submitted their meeting minutes. The consultative body of current medical issues, which did not keep the record of mutes in agreement with the Korea Medical Association, seems to have turned in documents on remarks, press releases, and joint briefings. The Korea Medical Association also sent in 42,206 petitions from doctors, medical students, and their parents and three reference materials, including the meeting minutes of the Japanese subcommittee on the supply and demand of doctors, to the court.

The reference materials submitted by the Korea Medical Association reportedly include an argument on the unfairness of the government’s policy of increasing the number of medical students by 2,000. However, the details of the submitted documents, including the government’s meeting minutes, haven’t been revealed yet.