The Korean Medical Association's(KMA) emergency steering committee is set to convene its first meeting Saturday afternoon to discuss ways to protest the government's planned expansion of the medical school admissions quota.

The committee is expected to consider various methods of collective action, such as KMA members' suspension of patient consultation en masse, and when to launch the group action.
 
This comes after a group representing trainee doctors announced that residents and interns at the so-called "Big Five" general hospitals in Seoul will stage a walkout starting Tuesday, while medical students have also decided to take leaves of absence en masse the same day.

Last week, the KMA's leadership resigned following the government's quota expansion announcement, before forming its emergency committee.

Committee chief Kim Taek-woo on Wednesday pledged to block the government's irrational expansion plans.