Five of the nation’s medical schools are set to notify students who have been absent for at least one month without approval that they will be expelled in accordance with school regulations.

According to the education ministry on Friday, Soonchunhyang University, Eulji University, Inje University, CHA University and Konyang University have either issued or planned to issue such notices to one-thousand-916 students.

Those that have not yet issued the notices are expected to do so by Friday.

The ministry said the deans of the medical schools reaffirmed last month that there would be no further flexibility regarding the students’ collective leave of absence in protest of health care reforms.

The ministry has asked each school to report by Wednesday on how it is handling students who have yet to return.