Leader of medical students' group defends students' return

Lee Seon-woo, head of the emergency committee of the Korean Medical Student Association (KMSA), who announced the return of all medical students to school on Saturday, refuted criticism from senior doctors that the association had made the decision by blindly trusting the government and without any concrete plans.

Lee clarified that the return was based on an education normalization plan prepared by the KMSA. He also called for the active cooperation of the medical community to support the normalization of education.

At a medical policy symposium organized by the Korean Hospital Doctors’ Association on Sunday, Lee discussed the direction of normalizing medical education from the perspective of medical students. The day before, he had issued a joint statement on students’ return alongside the Korean Medical Association and related National Assembly committees, urging the government to take an active role in the process.

At the symposium, Lee pointed out that medical education conditions have already collapsed due to the increase in medical students. Citing that three medical schools were de-certified in the first evaluation by the Korean Institute for Medical Education and Evaluation, he said, “At this rate, the problem will be repeated every year in the evaluation.”

Lee proposed establishing a permanent body to continuously check the plans and status of education normalization measures by universities.

To address the issue of “doubling,” where students in the class of 2024 and 2025 are enrolled in classes simultaneously, he also proposed implementing “distributed education,” which calls for proceeding with the curriculum for the 2024 class initially.

Lee refuted the criticism that Saturday’s announcement on students’ return was a hasty decision that trusted only the government and the National Assembly, noting that such critics are wrong.

At the symposium, Cho Byung-wook, policy chairman of the Future Medical Forum, said that the measures to “normalize education” could “abnormalize the education.”

“I don't understand what kind of thinking they had when they declared that they would return to work while asking the government for help,” Cho said.

A director of organizational strengthening at the Korean Hospital Doctors Association also argued that the KSMA should first work out concrete measures or secure an explicit promise from the government on the issue of “doubling.”

In response, the KSMA head said, “Rather than discussing medical education issues and solutions together, it sounds like a call for explaining the previous day's decision.”

"You’re wrong to say that we requested the government to present measures without any alternatives. The press conference (to declare the return of students) was held because the KSMA first proposed an alternative for normalization, which was confirmed to be feasible by the medical community and the National Assembly. Our association has consistently pointed out and voiced its opinions on medical policy issues and the crisis in education,” Lee said.

“We continue to call for the government to set up a permanent body to check educational conditions. For at least the next six years, there should be a body that checks the status of education at each university and listens to the opinions of both students and professors,” he said. “I will reveal more details (of KSMA’s proposal to the government and the National Assembly) later."

“Each university has different conditions and different positions. For these measures to be realized, we need the help of universities, the government, and senior doctors,” he said. “Saturday’s announcement was just a clue to a comeback. We still have a lot of work to do. Various players need to work together to normalize education. Only then can medical students return in a real sense.”

Meanwhile, in a survey on the return of medical students and trainee doctors released by the Korean Hospital Doctors Association on the same day, 51.8 percent of medical students and trainee doctors said that they should return if the government announces some measures and is willing to negotiate, even if they are not satisfied. Some 9.5 percent said they should return as soon as possible to prevent damage “even without government measures.”.

On the other hand, 35.8 percent of respondents said that they should not return unless there is a satisfactory government plan for the medical community. The similar response rate from the “general practitioner” group, which includes professors, salaried physicians, and practicing physicians, was 43.5 percent, 7.7 percentage points higher than that of those directly involved. In total, 445 people were surveyed. The timing of the survey was not disclosed.