Medical students to return to school, ending collective action

Medical students will return to schools after ending their collective action taken in protest of the government's medical workforce reform plan, their representatives said Monday.

Medical students have taken a leave of absence in protest of the government's plan to increase admission quotas at medical schools. Meanwhile, fourth-year students who have been boycotting the state licensing exam also said Sunday they will put on hold their collective action.

The Korean Medical Student Association representing some 20,000 students said Monday its junior members, excluding the fourth year, will return to school after putting the issue to a vote.

The government, however, reiterated its earlier stance that it will not allow senior medical students to take the medical licensing exam. Earlier, the government said public opinion is still overwhelmingly negative toward giving an extra chance to students who withdrew their applications.

"Medical students voluntarily refused to take the exam," Sohn Young-rae, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said in a press briefing. "There is no need for an additional exam when test-takers are refusing the exam of their own free will."

As trainee doctors returned to work after weeks of a strike over the government's policy, the medical students' collective action has served as a lingering source of tension between the government and the medical sector over the proposed reform plan.

Doctors and the government have been at odds over whether to give senior medical students another opportunity to take the licensing exam.

Doctors insisted students be allowed to take the test even if they did not register before the deadline, while the government has rejected such a step.

The government's plan to expand the number of medical students by 4,000 over the next 10 years and open a new public medical school sparked tensions within the medical sector.

Thousands of trainee doctors staged a strike for 18 days starting in mid-August over the policy.

A group of doctors and the ruling party agreed in early September to end a nationwide walkout on concerns that the prolonged collective action could disrupt the health care system amid the new coronavirus outbreak.

In response to the deal, the government backed down and promised to suspend the medical reform plan in early September. (Yonhap)