The government is seeking ways to facilitate the return within the month of trainee doctors who have walked off the job in protest of its health care reforms.

In a statement Wednesday, Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong promised to actively consider allowing trainees to return if they confirm their intent to do so, asking them to state their views on how to improve the training environment and other contentious issues.

While it is customary for medical training to start in March and September each year, the government is reportedly considering accepting additional trainees before recruitment begins for the second half of the year.

After the trainees walked out last year over objections to the government’s medical school admissions quota hike, the number of those in training nationwide in the first half of this year stands at 12-point-four percent of the pre-protest level.

Meanwhile, the education ministry is set to announce on Friday how many failures and expulsions have occurred at the nation’s 40 medical schools, where many students continue to refuse to attend classes as an act of protest.