After a series of twists and turns, a bill to form a committee to estimate medical workforce demand and supply and adjust the medical school enrollment quota for the 2026 academic year has crossed the threshold of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee's bill review subcommittee.

This resulted from two more rounds of input from the medical community, including the Korean Medical Association (KMA). The medical school enrollment quota for 2026 must be decided by April 30.

The Health and Welfare Committee held the first subcommittee on bill review at the National Assembly on Thursday morning to review and resolve the bill related to the composition of the Supply and Demand Estimation Committee “on one point.” The subpanel examined the government's alternative proposal prepared after merging two amendments to the Healthcare Workforce Support Act and four amendments to the Basic Healthcare Act.

In the amendments, the government decided to keep the Healthcare Policy Review Committee as it is but place it under the direct control of the Minister of Health and Welfare to ensure the independence of the Medical Workforce Demand and Supply Estimation Committee. Previously, the government had proposed to place the committee under the Healthcare Policy Review Committee. Still, the Korean Medical Association and others opposed the proposal, saying it would not guarantee the committee’s independence.

The committee will have 15 members, including a chairperson. The majority will be experts recommended by provider organizations, including medical institutions. Consumer organizations, including patient groups, recommend four members, and three are recommended by academia. The committee chairperson is chosen from among the experts.

In the supplementary regulations, they decided that if it is recognized that it is difficult to determine the size of the physician workforce for the 2026 academic year after deliberation with the workforce estimation committee, the university presidents will be required to change the implementation plan for the 2026 academic year's university entrance examination, including the number of medical students to be recruited considering the educational conditions of each university, within the scope determined in consultation with the ministers of education and health and welfare, by April 30.

In this case, the deans of medical schools were allowed to submit their opinions to the university president, as there are reasons to change the implementation plan according to the current Higher Education Act.

Rep. Kang Sun-woo of the Democratic Party of Korea, representing the opposition parties, met with reporters shortly after the bill's review ended.

“We tried to reflect the medical community's opinions as much as possible. We had the opportunity to listen to the voices of the medical community several times,” Kang said. “I think we accommodated the medical community's opinions as much as possible.”

“We thought it was important to make it possible for the workforce estimation committee to function as it should and that it should be based on expertise and science, so we included regulations to ensure this,” Kang said. “The bill was amended with the opinions of the Health and Welfare Committee members to achieve the purpose of the bill.”

“We think the medical community is suffering right now because there was no scientific basis for the number 2,000 (to increase the medical school enrollment quota for 2025),” Kang said. “Therefore, we think we have created a legal basis for taking steps to make decisions that have a scientific basis.”