Kim Tae-jin, Gwangju Seo-gu Council Member, Urges Urgent Measures for Excessive Working Hours of Essential Workers at Health Centers

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] It has been revealed that the overtime hours of essential workers responsible for COVID-19 testing at public health center screening clinics reach up to twice the maximum monthly overtime hours, raising calls for countermeasures.

On the 19th, Kim Taejin, a member of the Gwangju Metropolitan City Seo-gu Council, argued during a 5-minute free speech at the temporary session the day before that urgent measures are needed regarding the excessive overtime of essential workers at public health center screening clinics.

Councilor Kim stated, “The average monthly overtime of essential workers at screening clinics is 82 hours,” which “is twice the maximum monthly overtime of 47 hours.”

He continued, “Although overtime related to COVID-19 is recognized as a disaster and allowances are paid, it is necessary to fundamentally address the issue by reinforcing personnel at screening clinics and epidemiological investigation teams.”

Meanwhile, as of February 8, the total number of COVID-19 tests conducted at screening clinics in five autonomous districts was 229,003, with Dong-gu at 14,675 tests, Seo-gu at 80,305 tests, Nam-gu at 26,312 tests, Buk-gu at 78,789 tests, and Gwangsan-gu at 32,303 tests, showing Seo-gu had the highest number.

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