Students in school zones spanning multiple medical districts to get residency credit for regional doctor program

A longstanding barrier that prevented students from applying to the regional doctor selection track will be removed under a proposed regulatory change. The barrier arose when a single school zone straddled two or more medical service districts, causing a mismatch between a student's home address and their assigned high school's district.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Thursday it will amend the enforcement decree of the Act on Training and Support for Regional Doctors, along with related ministerial notices, to address residency requirement gaps for the regional doctor selection track in areas where a single school zone spans two or more medical service districts.

Under the current act, students seeking to apply for the regional doctor selection track must have graduated from a middle or high school in a designated region and must have resided in that region throughout their enrollment.

However, when a single school zone covers two or more medical service districts, a student's assigned school may fall in a different district from their home address, potentially disqualifying them from applying under the district-based residency requirement.

The proposed amendment addresses this by allowing students who attend a high school within such a school zone — one designated by the minister of health and welfare in consultation with the minister of education — to satisfy the residency requirement by living in any area within that school zone during their enrollment, regardless of which medical district their school or home falls in.

The specific areas to be covered will be set out in the ministerial notice on regional doctor selection. The current draft notice designates the North Chungcheong Province innovation town school zone as the first applicable area.

The ministry said it plans to move quickly given that rolling admissions for the 2027 academic year regional doctor selection track open Sept. 7. To that end, the draft enforcement decree amendment was open for public comment Thursday through Friday, with the goal of completing the revision before rolling admissions begin.

The ministry also said it will notify universities running the regional doctor selection track and provincial and metropolitan education offices of the changes to prevent confusion over eligibility determinations during the admissions process.

Organizations or individuals wishing to comment on the proposed amendment may submit their views by Friday through the ministry's Regional Medical Workforce Development Division or the Public Participation Legislative Center.