Assemblyman Yoon Young-deok: "It Has Been Revealed That the Wife of a Professor at Jeonnam National University Hospital Received Preferential Medical Treatment"

Unjust Use of Hospital Rooms 45 Times Over 3 Years... 44 Instances of Non-Payment for Room Charges

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] The suspicion of preferential treatment in medical care for the wife of a professor, which was raised last year by the labor union of Jeonnam National University Hospital, has been confirmed as true.

According to the 'Audit Result Report' submitted by Jeonnam National University Hospital to Representative Yoon Young-deok (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Dongnam-gap) on the 19th, Professor A's wife was found to have improperly used hospital rooms a total of 45 times from March 2017 to November of last year.

The current Jeonnam National University Hospital medical regulations define inpatients as patients who have completed admission procedures by submitting an admission decision letter and admission agreement issued by a hospital doctor.

Since Professor A's wife received treatment as an outpatient according to a doctor's outpatient prescription, she was not an inpatient, and her use of inpatient wards constitutes improper use of hospital facilities, according to Representative Yoon.

The hospital’s audit office revealed that allowing Professor A's wife to use hospital rooms not provided to general outpatients constitutes an abuse of authority by exploiting internal hospital positions and professor status, which is an illicit solicitation violating Article 5 of the Improper Solicitation and Graft Act.

Professor A's wife used hospital rooms without any justification a total of 45 times, of which 44 times no inpatient room fees were paid, amounting to approximately 4.36 million KRW.

However, the cost estimated by the Jeonnam National University Hospital labor union is at least about 6.53 million KRW, showing a significant discrepancy with the hospital audit results, sparking controversy.

Additionally, Professor A omitted records from the central injection room reception, causing serious damage to the patient management system and violating the Jeonnam National University Hospital employee code of conduct by significantly impairing fair job performance.

Representative Yoon’s office has been requesting the 'basis materials for disciplinary surcharge due to improper room use' for three months, but it is known that neither Jeonnam National University Hospital nor Jeonnam National University has submitted them.

The hospital audit office notified Jeonnam National University of the audit results, and the university’s disciplinary committee decided on a severe penalty of one-month suspension for Professor A and imposed a disciplinary surcharge double the improper room usage fee (about 8.72 million KRW).

Professor A appealed this decision through the faculty grievance review, and recently the penalty was reduced to a minor disciplinary action of three months’ salary reduction, while the disciplinary surcharge was confirmed as is.

Representative Yoon stated, “Despite the fact that preferential medical treatment within the hospital was openly known, Jeonnam National University Hospital, responsible for management and supervision, and Jeonnam National University, with disciplinary authority, took no action. This is practically no different from neglect of duty.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.