The Doctors for a Fair Society (DFS), a group of young doctors and medical students, lost their appeal in an administrative lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Ministry of Health and Welfare's recognition of four medical schools in Hungary on Thursday.

This ruling comes amid ongoing discussions about allowing foreign-trained doctors to practice in Korea. The Ministry of Health and Welfare recently said it would amend the enforcement rules of the Medical Service Act to allow doctors with a medical license, regardless of country or school of graduation, to practice in Korea without obtaining a Korean license during the severe stage of a medical care crisis.

According to local reports, the Seoul High Court dismissed DFS's appeal in the lawsuit against the Minister of Health and Welfare. The court ruled that the appeal was "inadmissible," meaning it did not meet the formal requirements or the content of the claim did not warrant judicial review.

This decision upholds a previous ruling by the Seoul Administrative Court in June last year, which also dismissed the case on similar grounds, citing the lack of "legal standing" of DFS as plaintiffs.

DFS filed the lawsuit in March 2022, arguing that the recognition of the four Hungarian medical schools was invalid due to multiple clear violations of existing accreditation standards.

The group pointed out that Hungary issues conditional medical licenses to Korean students, restricts them from practicing medicine within Hungary, and offers courses in English for the convenience of international students, all of which they claimed fall short of Korea's medical law accreditation standards.

Furthermore, DFS contended that the Ministry's inadequate accreditation process allowed Korean students graduating from these Hungarian medical schools to obtain medical licenses in Korea, thereby infringing on the training and specialty selection opportunities for domestic medical school graduates.

DFS is known to have expressed determination to continue their legal battle.

Meanwhile, the passing rate for graduates of foreign medical schools, including those in Hungary, remains relatively low, according to data submitted by the Health and Welfare Ministry to Rep. Shin Hyun-yung of the Democratic Party of Korea.

From 2005 to 2023, only 41.4 percent of foreign medical school graduates obtained medical licenses in Korea. Specifically, of the 189 graduates from Hungarian medical schools who applied during that timeline, only 58.2 percent passed the preliminary licensing exam, and 47.9 percent ultimately passed the national medical exam.