South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare convened the first meeting of a preparatory committee on July 3 to advance plans for a national public medicine graduate school, marking the first formal step since enabling legislation passed in May.
The institution, to be known as the National Public Medical Graduate School, is designed to address chronic shortages of doctors in regional, essential, and public healthcare settings. The government has designated its establishment as a national policy priority.
Under the plan, the school would operate as a four-year graduate-level institution, with tuition covered by the state and a curriculum tailored to public medicine. Graduates who obtain their medical licences would then serve for 15 years at public healthcare facilities. The ministry aims to open the school in 2029 and begin coursework in 2030, producing around 100 doctors annually once running.
The preparatory committee is chaired by the ministry's second vice minister and includes ten members drawn from public health policy, medical education, and clinical fields at public hospitals, along with officials from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Separate specialist sub-committees are also planned. The committee will remain in place until the school's operating foundation completes its registration and hands over affairs to a president.
The location has not yet been decided. According to MoneyToday, the ministry intends to establish both a central campus and a regional campus, with site selection among the priorities for the second half of this year.
Starting this month, the ministry will begin a legislative notice process to draft subordinate regulations covering student admissions, tuition support, assignment of mandatory-service physicians, and the designation and cancellation of qualifying public institutions.
Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hun called the school 'a significant step in introducing a state-led public medicine workforce system' and said the committee's work would aim to build 'a top-tier medical education institution.'