Gov't to lift top-level medical crisis alert next week

▲ This file photo, taken Oct. 1, 2025, shows Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong speaking during a meeting with officials to discuss measures to address the national medical crisis at a government complex in Seoul. (Yonhap)

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Gov't to lift top-level medical crisis alert next week

SEOUL, Oct. 17 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government will lift the nation's top-level "serious" health crisis alert, issued early last year following the mass resignation of trainee doctors, as hospital operations have stabilized, the health ministry said Friday.

The highest-level alert has been in place since Feb. 23 last year after thousands of trainee doctors walked off the job in protest of a plan to increase medical school enrollment by 2,000 to nearly 5,000 starting this year.

The plan has since been scrapped, with the 2026 quota reverted to the previous level of about 3,000.

"The government has resumed dialogue with the medical community since the launch of the new administration and has worked together to restore medical services and emergency care capabilities to nearly pre-crisis levels," Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong said at a meeting of government officials in Seoul.

With the alert lifted, the government will also end the operation of an emergency medical system under which about 200 billion won (US$143 million) a month from the national health insurance fund was used to temporarily raise medical fees and maintain essential services.

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