“부처 이관만으론 부족”…국립대병원 노조, 인력·재정 대책 요구

Nine national university hospitals in South Korea are in the process of transferring jurisdiction from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of November 20th. The national university hospital labor unions are calling for concrete plans on how to address personnel shortages and financial support. The Joint Struggle Alliance of National University Hospital Labor Unions held a press conference at the Love Hall in Seoul on November 19th.

They emphasized that converting the jurisdiction change alone is insufficient for national university hospitals to play their role as the core of regional healthcare. The alliance comprises 13 labor unions from national universities.

The labor unions argue that while the jurisdiction change was established alongside the creation of the national university hospital, specific measures must be put in place to ensure their proper functioning. These measures include securing personnel, allocating necessary funds, and establishing operational systems. Jong Jang-eub, the vice president of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's labor union, stated that simply changing the label of the national university hospital's administration department does not guarantee enhancement of regional and essential healthcare services.

He reiterated the need for a detailed execution plan regarding financial support for the national university hospital's establishment.

In the current climate of limited essential healthcare personnel and financial difficulties, labor union officials have pointed out the critical shortage of mandatory medical professionals. Kim Ji-na, the Director of Nursing for Jeonbuk National University Hospital, reported that the proportion of specialist doctors covering essential medical fields in Jeonbuk National University Hospital remained at 70% last year, while the coverage for eight essential departments, including internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and adolescent medicine, was only 62%.

She noted that the shortage of medical professionals was leading to an overburdened workload for nurses and increasing risks of medical errors, ultimately resulting in growing resignation rates among nurses.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the same day that it plans to gradually increase financial support for national university hospitals to enhance them as the core of regional healthcare. The plan includes increasing the number of specialist doctors for mandatory fields like obstetrics and gynecology and adolescent medicine by 460 over the next four years.

The Ministry also revealed its comprehensive strategy for the development of national university hospitals to serve as the essential healthcare control center for regions, which was announced in June.