Crisis in medical system builds as hospital workers plan walkout

Medical workers pass by a poster posted at the National Medical Center that informs about unionized hospital workers' strike (Yonhap)

Amid a prolonged medical standoff, concerns are again looming large as more than 22,000 unionized hospital workers plan to strike beginning Thursday if the ongoing arbitration by the labor relations committee fails to reach an agreement on a pay raise and the normalization of hospital operations.

The planned walkout comes after 91 percent of the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union -- which has some 30,000 nurses, caregivers and other medical workers at 61 hospitals as members -- voted to strike. Of the 24,257 members who voted, 22,101 agreed.

The collective action also comes as hospitals bear the brunt of staffing shortages due to junior doctors' collective walkout in February. At the same time, emergency medicine professors, who double as senior physicians, are quitting in droves due to poor working conditions coupled with fatigue.

However, the union noted that those working in emergency rooms and intensive care units and treating severely ill hospitalized patients will stay. Workers at the country's five biggest general hospitals will also not join the action.

Amid growing fears, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo urged the union to shelve its plan Tuesday, pleading that the harm will be done wholly to the patients and that the government cannot agree with pushing an "extreme action."

"The government is well aware of the difficulties and thinks they should be improved. ... We ask to resolve problems through dialogue and compromise," Han said during a government meeting. He added that the government will carry out a survey to determine medical workers' working conditions and prepare measures to improve them in October.

The nationwide union of nurses and medical workers has demanded a 6.4 percent wage increase, swift normalization of medical services, elimination of illegal medical practices, clarifying the roles and responsibilities of each profession, implementing a four-day workweek pilot program and addressing issues related to indirect employment. However, medical institutions are unlikely to accept the demand for salary increases because they suffer from financial troubles piled by junior doctors' strikes that halved surgeries and treatments.

Should the union proceed with the plan, Han promised the government would minimize confusion by informing the public of hospitals participating in the strike.

The union last walked out on July 13-14 last year to demand better working conditions.

If the move goes as planned, it will likely put more strain on 31 public institutions, including the National Medical Center and Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center, and 30 private hospitals, including Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Korea University's Medical Center and Hanyang University Medical Center.

With only a day left to find the middle ground, a senior official of the presidential office told reporters Monday that the health care system "can be effectively managed" despite the potential strike and emergency departments feeling the heat in admitting patients. Though the official referred to the strike as "concerning," the official said the government was making efforts to prevent it from happening.

The medical circle, however, warned that the strike would push health care to the brink of collapse and force doctors to take on additional duties, eventually leading to surgery cancellations and delays in outpatient treatments.

As health care workers were ready to up the ante to push their demands, the government and lawmakers ushered in to appease the union's grievances.

Lawmakers of the parliamentary health committee will meet Wednesday before the National Assembly's plenary session to review the nursing bill so that the bill can gain approval for a plenary vote at the Assembly, despite threats from doctors to stage anti-government rallies in case of its enactment.

The Nursing Act proposes greater roles and responsibilities and better legal protection for nurses and nursing assistants as the scope of conducting medical procedures done by doctors and nurses is often blurry here.

Renewing his vow to accomplish medical reform, President Yoon Suk Yeol rolled out plans to increase the budget to restore local and essential health services from the current 800 billion won ($601.36 million) to 2 trillion won next year during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting. The financial boost aims to minimize gaps in remote and regional services so that all citizens can access medical care regardless of where they live.

Also, Yoon said the government would invest more than 20 trillion won -- including allocating 10 trillion won to raise compensation for medical staff providing services in vulnerable areas -- to recruit more medical personnel, and enhance local medical services and R&D focusing on essential medical services by 2028.