The government has announced plans to allocate 82 percent of the two-thousand extra places at the nation’s medical schools to institutions outside the capital region, showing its resolve to push ahead with plans to increase the number of doctors in the nation despite protests by doctors and medical students.

According to education minister Lee Ju-ho on Wednesday, the quota of each medical school at national universities other than Seoul National University(SNU) has been set at around 200.

In the case of Chungbuk National University, the quota will nearly quadruple from 49 to 200, while admissions will rise by 90 each at Kyungpook National University and at Chungnam National University.

While 361 of the overall extra seats, or 18 percent of the total, assigned to the capital region only apply to schools in Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, Ajou University and Sungkyunkwan University will see the largest hike of 80 each.

By pushing for the highest quota hikes to take place outside Seoul, the government plans to have more doctors leave the capital city to shore up the regional essential medicine system.