By Kim Boram
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) — The South Korean government is initiating an examination of the nation’s unified medical law system, which applies to all healthcare professionals, including physicians and nurses, in response to the contentious nursing act that has stirred up the medical community.
The nursing act, which was passed by the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) in April, was designed to distinguish the roles and obligations of nurses and nursing assistants from other healthcare experts, such as medical doctors, dentists, and Korean medicine doctors, as outlined in the Medical Service Act. The bill also includes provisions that would allow nurses to open nursing homes and care centers in local areas.
The law has caused a rift among medical circles, with nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers, including nursing assistants and radiological technologists, staging multiple rallies and work-to-rule strikes.
Nurses have claimed that the new law is meant to improve their working conditions, not to give them the opportunity to practice medicine. In contrast, doctors have argued that the legislation would cause confusion in the medical field as it could lead to nurses opening their own clinics and practicing medicine without doctors’ supervision.
As the controversy intensified, President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed the bill, which subsequently failed to be re-passed in the National Assembly.
Park Min-soo, vice minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated during a press conference with foreign media on Tuesday that “there were three issues in the last nursing law controversy,” referring to the legal system, elderly care, and the working conditions of nurses.
“The first is the legal system, and Korea has a unitary medical law. It is a system that contains all the roles, functions and responsibilities of all positions in the Medical Service Act,” he said.
The ministry will form a study group later this month to discuss whether the government should modify the legal system, or whether the medical law should remain unified or be divided into separate laws for each profession. The review is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The vice minister also shared that the government is brainstorming ideas to reform the country’s system to take care of the increasing number of seniors and to improve the working conditions of nurses.
“I don’t think the government can solely solve this nursing law-ignited problem by clearing these three issues,” he said. “It is important for all members of the society to discuss each issue and reach an agreement.”