Health minister 'open' to shortening medical school education to five years

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said on Monday that his agency has yet to be consulted about an Education Ministry plan to shorten medical school education from six years to five, but he is open to the idea.

A pedestrian walks past the signboard of Seoul National University's College of Medicine in central Seoul on Monday, a day after the Ministry of Education conditionally allowed medical schools to process students' leave requests. [NEWS1]

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said on Monday that his agency has yet to be consulted about an Education Ministry plan to shorten medical school education from six years to five, but he is open to the idea.

The minister’s remarks came a day after Education Minister Lee Ju-ho presented a possible plan to reduce medical school education during a press briefing on Sunday.

During a parliamentary audit at the National Assembly, Cho said, "Even though the two ministries have not discussed the idea of shortening the duration of medical education, the measure appears to be the Education Ministry’s effort to resolve difficulties in rolling out curriculum and the medical personnel void.”

When asked about his ministry’s stance on the shortening, Cho noted he would support the idea if the shortening does not compromise the quality of medical education. He stressed that “ensuring medical quality should be the priority.”

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong speaks at a parliamentary audit session at the National Assembly in western Seoul on Monday. [NEWS1]

A day earlier, Education Minister Lee announced a set of measures to normalize medical education, which includes conditional approval of students’ leaves of absence and possible shortening of the medical education period.

Lee said the ministry would approve students’ temporary leaves of absence on the condition that they would return to campuses by the beginning of next spring. He also clarified that the ministry would not acknowledge their leave as a “collective” action, noting such a concerted behavior is “invalid.”

The approval marks a shift in the government’s stance, which had blocked medical schools from processing students’ leave requests.

The ministry also instructed medical schools to flunk or expel non-returning students per their academic code.

The Education Ministry said it is reviewing a measure to reduce the education period from six to five years. This would allow medical schools to run their curriculum flexibly and supply society with enough doctors in due time.

The ministry said that shortening the length of medical education would not be “temporary.” It added that it would "systematically shorten curriculum so that it could continue even after the 2025 academic year."

Medical professors picket against the government's health policies on Thursday near the presidential office in Yongsan, central Seoul. [YONHAP]

In response to the ministry’s briefing, the medical community expressed displeasure, criticizing it as a “rough and ready solution that will undermine education quality.”

In a statement co-written by a coalition of emergency steering committees of medical colleges nationwide, the Medical Professors Association of Korea, the Korea Association of Medical Colleges, the Korean Academy of Medical Sciences and the Korean Medical Association (KMA), doctors said the government’s measures violate the constitution and deprive individual freedom by bringing up academic penalties. They also said the government's approving of leaves conditionally would violate college autonomy.

The doctors also said the government prepared the measures hurriedly because it knows that “educating medical students properly in 2025 will be impossible if the current situation continues.”

On Monday, Roh Hwan-kyu, former head of the KMA, said the shortening of the education period would prevent doctors with five-year degrees from working overseas as their credentials would not be recognized and prompt doctors with six-year degrees to move overseas en masse out of fear that the door might eventually close on them, too.

BY LEE SOO-JUNG [lee.soojung1@joongang.co.kr]