By Hyonhee Shin SEOUL (Reuters) - More than 10,000 South Korean community doctors and certified nursing assistants went on strike on Wednesday, protes.
SEOUL (Reuters) - More than 10,000 South Korean community doctors and certified nursing assistants went on strike on Wednesday, protesting a nursing bill they fear would hurt their jobs even as it improves nurses' pay and working conditions. | 03:41am
A group of doctors and other medical workers - except professional nurses - will begin a collective action on Wednesday in protest of the controversial introduction last Thursday of the Nursing Act by the National Assembly controlled by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. A coalition of 13 medical workers organizations including the Korea Medical Association (KMA) and the Korean Licensed Practical Nurses Association announced Tuesday that its collective actions will begin with shortening consultation and practicing hours, and holding rallies across the country.
President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing pressure from doctors and medical workers, especially nursing assistants, to veto the legislation of the Nursing Act. Divisions within the medical community have deepened following the act s controversial approval in the opposition-controlled National Assembly.
A conflict is intensifying between nurses and other medical workers, including doctors, over the National Assembly s move to pass a bill legislating the Nursing Act. Independent from the Medical Services Act, the proposed nursing law would clarify the scope of nurses work and improve their working conditions, aiming to resolve nurses frequent complaints over ambiguities in their roles and duties as stipulated in the Medical Services Act that they claim have increased their workload.