Ahn Cheol-soo, a member of the People's Power Party, said, ”Increasing the number of medical school students by 2,000 will open 2,000 dermatology clinics” (South Korea)

Ahn Cheol-soo, a doctor and lawmaker from the ruling People Power Party, said the South Korean government's policy of insisting on increasing medical school admissions by 2,000 students next year will "completely ruin" the medical system.
In an interview with the medical media outlet "Young Doctors" on the 27th, Rep. Ahn said, "The problem with the Korean medical system is that the number of essential medical doctors and physician scientists is decreasing, and local medical care is declining.
"This is a problem that the government must solve. Who would want to work in essential medical fields with low pay and heavy legal responsibilities? We need to raise pay and legally
"Korea's public health care system is only on the surface. We need to strengthen a good public health care system," said Ahn.
"They are making adjustments but not spending the money, instead shifting the responsibility to the private sector and controlling only the amount. In the US, public medical institutions account for 30% of all medical institutions, but in Korea it's only 10%."
Regarding the government's policy to increase the number of medical school admissions, he said, "We should have put in the necessary number of doctors at the end (to solve this problem), but they did the opposite and it's completely ruined the plan."
If we increase the number of doctors by 2,000 each year, then in 10 years' time, when doctors are produced, 2,000 people will open dermatology clinics every year."
Regarding the imminent announcement of the university-specific admissions selection plan, Rep. Yasu said, "The only thing we can do now is
"There is no option but to give us a one-year grace period. Let's have a new council decide on the number of medical school admissions per year. In reality, we cannot even provide a proper medical education in the current situation."
"Right now, we are trying to set up a meeting between the professors of the medical school and the President's office.
I'm not sure if that will happen, but I'm thinking about creating such a forum. I think it's important to open the door to dialogue." He added, "I'm a doctor, but I'm also on the side of the people.
"I hope they will return to being close to their patients in the future. I also hope the government will stop its insistence on increasing medical school enrollment by 2,000."