KMA chief under pressure after surveyed doctors refuse to back him

Presidential office to launch new consultative body to forecast number of future health care workers needed

The Korean Medical Association's headquarters in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul. (Newsis)

The leader of South Korea's largest doctors association is under pressure after the majority of a group of members surveyed expressed no confidence in him.

In a survey of Korean Medical Association members run from Aug. 28 to Sept. 27 by several high ranking KMA officials, more than 77 percent of the participants expressed no confidence in the group's president, Lim Hyun-taek, according to the medical community on Sunday.

Figures on the number of members surveyed were not made public, except for an early count of votes on Sept. 12, which showed that 987 of 1,283 respondents supported the no-confidence motion.

Still, in order to motion to hold an official no confidence vote, one-fourth of the KMA's 14,500 general members must agree to it.

Lim is known for his hawkish stance toward the government's plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota. But he has struggled to produce concrete results to resolve the issue since he took office in May.

The KMA has continually urged that the government scrap the quota hike for the 2025 academic year, citing concerns over the decline in the quality of medical education and the country's highly-regarded health care system.

It is also the precondition demanded by the doctors' group to join the four-way consultative body including Yoon Suk Yeol government, the ruling and opposition parties to discuss medical reform.

The government has, on the other hand, ruled out reversing its quota hike for 2025, and medical schools have started receiving applicants for early admissions. But officials said they are open to revisiting the medical school quota for the 2026 school year if the medical circle proposes a "reasonable alternative."

Meanwhile, gesturing toward the doctors, the presidential office said Sunday that it plans to launch a new consultative body to analyze the exact number of future health care workforce needed.

A senior presidential office official, speaking anonymously, told Yonhap that the committee aims to reflect the medical community's opinion so that the appropriate increase in medical school admissions can be discussed without being set on adding 2,000 places.

The forecasting body will comprise subcommittees, each made up of 10 to 15 experts working in the health care sector, such as physicians, nurses, dentists and traditional Korean medicine, the official explained.

Apart from the quota hike issue, Lim has struggled to come up with a set of demands that the various groups of doctors -- physicians, interns and residents, and medical students -- can agree on.

Park Dan, leader of the Korean Intern Resident Association, recently said that Lim "does not represent junior doctors who have resigned and medical students on leave of absence," and that he was unwilling to engage in any discussions or negotiations with the KMA chief.

In late August, the GyeongGi-Do Medical Association urged Lim to resign in a statement, stressing that he had "failed to fulfill his responsibilities" as the group's president.

"The Lim Hyun-taek administration should immediately cease its attempts to disregard and ignore junior doctors and medical students, and we advise that Lim voluntarily resign in line with the wishes of medical students and junior doctors, who are at the center of the standoff," the Aug. 31 statement read.

By Park Jun-hee(junheee@heraldcorp.com)