Seoul, Feb 13, 2025, IANS

Seoul, Feb 13 (IANS) South Korea’s Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo called on the medical community on Thursday to resume talks with the government to resolve the prolonged deadlock over medical reform. "It is very disappointing and regretful that the government and the medical community are holding no discussion at all at the moment," Min-soo said during a government meeting, urging the doctors' groups to return to the negotiation table, Yonhap news agency reported. Thousands of trainee doctors have been absent from their workplaces in the form of a mass resignation since February last year, as the medical community continued to urge the government to reconsider its planned increase of medical school students. Earlier, the government announced plans to increase medical school admissions by 1,500 students for 2025, as part of a broader initiative to raise the total by approximately 10,000 over the next five years to address a shortage of doctors. Min-soo said the government has been working to normalise the medical system and resolve difficulties for junior doctors. "Some raise concerns the medical community, trainee doctors and medical school students are not returning to talks with the government or their jobs in order to disrupt the country's education of medical workers and treatment of patients in a move to put the government in a tough spot and force it into accepting their request," Min-soo said. "I hope the concerns are not true and will make sure that such actions are unacceptable." Last month, acting President Choi Sang-mok said the government is open to readjusting the country's medical school admissions quota for next year from scratch, raising hopes for a breakthrough in the prolonged walkout by trainee doctors. "If the medical community participates in discussions, we are willing to negotiate the scale of the 2026 medical school quota increase flexibly from a zero base," Sang-mok said during a meeting with ministers on social issues.