SEOUL, The government will complete follow-up measures for increased enrollment quotas at medical schools by May, a senior official said Tuesday, in a fresh sign that the government will not back down from the reform push despite a fierce protest by the medical community. About 12,000 interns and resident doctors have remained off the job since Feb. 20 in protest of the push to hike the number of medical students, forcing surgeries and other public health services to be canceled or delayed at major hospitals. Despite the labor action by junior doctors, the government allocated the additional 2,000 admission seats to universities last week. Senior doctors said they would not sit down for talks with the government unless the push is scrapped. Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo told reporters that the increased quotas will be applied to details of admission procedures by each university by the end of May. "The government will complete follow-up measures within May without a hitch," Park said. In supp ort of junior doctors' labor action, medical professors, who are senior doctors at major university hospitals, have begun tendering their resignations since Monday. Although prospects for talks with the medical community are uncertain, Park called for doctors to hold talks with the government "without conditions." Park urged doctors to "engage in dialogue with a sincere attitude and without conditions. That is the way for the people." There are media reports that some medical professors or junior doctors coerced their peers to join the labor action. Park said the government will take protective measures for doctors who remain at work. As for President Yoon Suk Yeol's instruction to exert flexibility in handling the suspension of doctors' medical licenses, Park said that the government stands firm that punishment is inevitable even if they return to work within this month. "The government could review the adjustment of the timing and duration (of license suspensions), but no decisions have been made," Pa rk said. On Sunday, Yoon asked officials to look for "flexible" ways to handle the license suspension, while calling for dialogue to resolve the issue. The government is pushing to increase the admission quotas to address a shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas and essential medical fields, such as high-risk surgeries, pediatrics, obstetrics, and emergency medicine. But doctors argue the quota hike would compromise the quality of medical education and services and create a surplus of physicians, stating the government must devise ways of better protecting them from malpractice suits and extending compensation to induce more physicians to practice in such "unpopular" areas. Source: Yonhap News Agency