"Immediate Administrative Orders for COVID-19 Workforce"

'Hospital Bed Limits' Urged by Health and Medical Workers' Union

On the 20th, participants hold placards at a press conference titled "Condemning the Ministry of Strategy and Finance for Refusing to Increase Staff for Patient Care During the COVID-19 Crisis and Demanding Expansion of Staff Quotas at National University Hospitals," hosted by the National University Hospital Labor Union Joint Struggle Solidarity in front of the Blue House Fountain in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] As medical personnel to respond to COVID-19 rapidly become scarce, the Health and Medical Workers' Union has urged the government to immediately issue an administrative order for COVID personnel following the administrative order on hospital beds.

On the afternoon of the 20th, the Health and Medical Workers' Union held an emergency press conference to urge the urgent expansion of COVID-19 bed personnel and the reorganization of the medical response system, stating that all efforts must be made to expand personnel to solve the problem of critically ill patients who have reached the limit of severe beds.

The union argued that the administrative order for securing beds must include the expansion of medical personnel. In the press release, Na Sun-ja, chairperson of the Health and Medical Workers' Union, pointed out, "Although nursing personnel standards for COVID-19 response were established as a follow-up measure to the government-labor agreement on September 2, there is no mention anywhere in the government's bed plan that nursing personnel standards must be observed."

The union also demanded the expansion of the staff quota of public hospitals and the lifting of the total staff quota system restrictions. In the case of public hospitals, which care for 80% of COVID-19 patients, they are caring for patients with insufficient personnel without even filling their staff quota, and the union claims that the demands for personnel expansion at public hospitals are blocked by the total staff quota system.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

They also called for support to expand auxiliary personnel. The union stated, "Even tasks such as patient care while wearing protective suits, meal assistance, toileting, bathing, and delivery of parcels fall on nurses," adding, "In November, the union requested a budget increase of 81.1 billion won for auxiliary personnel support at the budget session, but it was not reflected at all. Even now, support for auxiliary personnel expansion should be provided through securing supplementary budgets."

Chairperson Na said, "Appeals about difficulties in medical sites are continuous, and the emergency stop is merely a time-buying measure for a prepared long-term battle," criticizing, "Although the emergency stop has created an opportunity to prevent the current situation from worsening further, the government's measures are still insufficient and full of shortcomings."

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