President Yoon Suk Yeol has made it clear that he has no intention of changing the direction of healthcare reform, including increasing medical school enrollment quota, ahead of a dinner with the ruling People Power Party (PPP) leadership.

Yoon also turned down a request from PPP leader Han Dong-hoon to allow a private meeting.

“Without healthcare reform, it is impossible to rebuild a regionally balanced essential medical system that protects people's lives and health,” Yun said while chairing a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. “The government will unwaveringly push forward with healthcare reform, including the expansion of doctors, so that people can receive high-quality medical care anytime, anywhere without worry.”

“The root cause of the delays in patient transfers and difficulties finding emergency rooms during the Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving Day) holiday was the absolute shortage of essential specialists to provide follow-up care,” Yun said. ‘The absolute shortage of specialists, coupled with unfair compensation for doctors treating severely ill people, and excessive judicial risks, have led to the gradual collapse of essential medical care.”

Yoon emphasized that this explains why the government is pushing forward with healthcare reform.

“Thanks to the cooperation of the public, the dedication of medical professionals, and proactive responses by central and local governments, we could enjoy the holiday without any major difficulties,” Yun said, noting that nearly twice as many regional hospitals participated as on-call medical institutions during the Chuseok holiday as in previous years.

Yoon explained that the cabinet meeting also established a special exception for localities to use disaster management funds for emergency medical care.

“This will clarify the basis for using disaster management funds to support emergency medical institutions and medical personnel and enable us to quickly provide the human and material resources needed at local medical sites,” the chief executive said,

“I hope relevant ministries and local governments will mobilize all available resources and strengthen cooperation to maintain a robust emergency care system, including emergency medicine,” he added.

Yoon stressed the need to improve the medical culture so that only severe emergency patients can use university hospitals' emergency rooms.

“The number of patients with minor symptoms in emergency rooms decreased by nearly 40 percent compared to last year's Chuseok because people first visited regional hospitals and neighborhood clinics that were open instead of emergency rooms,” Yoon said. ”It is preferable for severe emergency patients fighting for every second to be treated quickly in large hospital emergency rooms, while non-emergency patients visit small- and medium-sized hospitals or local clinics. Only in this way can more lives be saved, medical staff be relieved of excessive burden, and the quality of medical care improved.”

“I want relevant ministers to continue to guide people to ensure that a mature culture of emergency medical care takes root,” Yoon said.

Later in the day, President Yoon hosts a dinner at the Presidential Office with the PPP leadership, including Han and floor leader Rep. Choo Kyung-ho. Yoon declined Han's request for a private audience ahead of the dinner.

Some PPP leaders did not hide their disappointment with the abortive meeting between Yoon and Han.

“I hoped that the President and the ruling party leader would have taken the time before the dinner to meet and discuss current issues and that a meaningful resolution, decision, or advanced message on healthcare reform or other issues would have come out of it, but it was canceled,” said Rep. Jang Dong-hyuk, a senior member of the PPP, on an MBC radio talk show. “I hope it will be rescheduled as soon as possible so the two leaders can have a private meeting.”