The Korean Medical Association(KMA) says the president is the one who can resolve the current medical vacuum left by trainee doctors who walked off the job in protest of the government’s plan to increase the medical school admissions quota.

The KMA’s emergency committee unveiled the remark in a regular briefing on Wednesday, saying the medical community will naturally engage in dialogue once the government scraps its plan to expand the admissions quota and assumes a forward-looking stance. 

The committee also expressed regret that President Yoon Suk Yeol made nearly no mention of the current stalemate between the government and the medical community during a Cabinet meeting held the previous day. 

At the meeting, the president revealed his thoughts on the results of last week’s general election while vowing to push forward medical reform plans. 

The committee urged the president to scrap the government plan to expand the admission quota of medical schools and to make efforts so that new discussions can be held on such quota at a rational and objective organization.