Government: “No re-discussion of medical school increase in 2026 without medical community opinion”

The government stated that if the medical community does not provide opinions on the scale of increase in medical school enrollment after the 2026 school year, there will be no re-discussion on the issue of increasing medical school enrollment.

On the 7th, the Office for Government Policy Coordination said in a press release, “The decision to postpone the increase in medical school enrollment in 2026, as reported by some media outlets, is not true,” and “If the medical community does not continue to express its opinion, re-discussion is not possible.”

The Office for Government Policy Coordination pointed out that “the medical personnel supply and demand system should be based on scientific analysis, like the national pension, and even when discussed in a consultative body of the ruling and opposition parties, it should be discussed based on an estimate of the demand for medical personnel based on scientific evidence.”

He continued, “If there are different opinions from the government’s plan, a demand estimate for medical professionals based on scientific analysis must be presented before re-discussion can take place,” and “The government’s position remains that if the medical community presents scientific and rational opinions, we will flexibly re-discuss the issue without being bound by numbers.”

He also said, “The government has consistently made it clear that if the medical community has differing opinions on the scale of increase in medical school enrollment after the 2026 school year, we will respect their rational opinions based on scientific evidence and re-discuss the matter from zero base without being bound by the number of 2,000.”

Meanwhile, he said, “The government decided to increase the number of medical schools to the minimum necessary level based on scientific supply and demand analysis, and has collected opinions from the medical community for over a year and eight months. However, while the medical community agrees with the need for an increase, they have never once expressed their opinion on the scale of the increase.” He emphasized again that “the government’s persistent request to the medical community for the past year and eight months to ‘present rational opinions based on scientific evidence’ remains unchanged.”