Health ministry names Suncheon, Gyeongguk for new medical schools

The health ministry said Wednesday that National Suncheon University and National Gyeongguk University will open medical schools with 60 and 40 seats respectively, the first step in a plan to train 100 new doctors a year in regions that currently have no medical school.

The two universities, in the integrated Gwangju-Jeonnam special city and North Gyeongsang Province, were chosen after six meetings of a joint planning body run by the education and health ministries since July.

The government attributed the selection to the two regions' relatively poor access to medical care and the need to build a base for training, residency and settlement of doctors locally. Candidates were scored on 13 indicators across four areas — access to medical schools, shortages of medical supply, medical vulnerability and policy effectiveness — for a possible 100 points.

The 60-40 split reflects the fact that Gwangju-Jeonnam would struggle to run a full 100-seat class in its early years, while North Gyeongsang already has the 55-seat Dongguk University medical school in its southern area.

Suncheon's selection was contested. The original plan assumed a merger of Mokpo National University and Suncheon National University, but the merger talks collapsed and the Gwangju-Jeonnam authority recommended Suncheon on its own after a review by the Jeonnam Research Institute on Aug. 30. When Mokpo and others raised objections to that process, the government reviewed submissions several times and sought multiple outside legal opinions, concluding there were no flaws serious enough to warrant rejecting the recommendation.

"Establishing regional medical schools is an important national task to close the gaps in medical care between regions that simply increasing the number of existing medical school places could not resolve, and to strengthen the system for training, training and settling regional medical personnel," said Lee Hyung-hoon, the health ministry's second vice minister.

Education Vice Minister Choi Eun-ok said the announcement put the new schools on a "full-scale implementation track."

Next, the government will form promotion bodies at each region and university, with local governments, universities and experts taking part, and a joint support body at the two ministries. Further seat allocations after 2032 will be discussed once a supply-and-demand estimate for doctors is completed in 2029.