Gangwon Province Joins Forces to Revitalize Public Healthcare... 21.5 Billion Won Invested to Address Overdue Wages and Other Issues

Governor Kim Jin-tae, Medical Center Director, and Head of the Health and Medical Workers' Union
Medical Center and Rehabilitation Hospital Union Branch Chiefs Also Attend

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Kim Jin-tae) held the "Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Public Healthcare Revitalization Meeting" on the 19th in the annex meeting room, attended by the medical center director, head of the Health and Medical Workers' Union, and labor union branch chiefs from the medical center and rehabilitation hospital, providing an opportunity for dialogue with public healthcare institution representatives.

Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province (Governor Kim Jin-tae) held the 'Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Public Healthcare Revitalization Meeting' on the 19th at the annex conference room, attended by medical center directors, heads of the Health and Medical Labor Union headquarters, and union branch heads of the medical centers and rehabilitation hospitals. Provided by Gangwon Province

This meeting was organized to share and discuss follow-up measures after the previous meeting with the Gangwon Regional Headquarters of the Health and Medical Workers' Union, which took place at Gangneung Medical Center on February 13.

At that time, the head of the Gangwon Regional Headquarters of the Health and Medical Workers' Union proposed several measures: resolving overdue wages at the medical center, guaranteeing salaries for emergency room doctors at the five medical centers, ensuring salaries for rehabilitation medicine doctors at Gangwon Rehabilitation Hospital, accepting decisions from the Central Labor Relations Commission, and establishing a sustainable labor-government consultative body.

Ham Junsik, head of the Gangwon Regional Headquarters of the Health and Medical Workers' Union, expressed gratitude for this opportunity for dialogue, saying, "I am thankful for the meaningful decision that has been made," and added, "I hope this will lead to better medical services for patients at the field level, based on trust between labor and management."

Governor Kim Jin-tae stated, "I feel that such a meeting should have been arranged sooner," and continued, "This time, I am determined to resolve the issues once and for all."

He added, "We are pushing for emergency funding to resolve the overdue wage issue at Sokcho Medical Center and will expand support across all five medical centers to restore normal operations. We will also increase support to modernize the wage system."

The province plans to resolve urgent issues, such as overdue wages, immediately and intends to address compensation for medical center losses and management improvement subsidies through a supplementary budget.

First, to solve the most urgent issue—overdue wages at Sokcho Medical Center—the province will provide a new regional development fund loan of 2 billion won. In addition, a subsidy of 6.5 billion won will be provided to compensate for the public interest-related losses of the medical centers and to ensure financial soundness.

To minimize gaps in public healthcare, the province will also provide an additional 400 million won to cover the salaries of specialists at the provincial rehabilitation hospital.

Furthermore, the province will focus administrative efforts on passing the amendment to the "Emergency Medical Services Act" currently before the National Assembly, in order to secure dedicated emergency room doctors for the medical centers, and will work to secure sustainable funding through the creation of a public healthcare fund, which is a presidential pledge.

Regarding the union's request for the establishment of a labor-government consultative body, the province will respect the management autonomy of the medical centers and the existing structure for labor-management negotiations. Instead of a permanent body, regular meetings will be held at least twice a year, and the province plans to actively recommend that field opinions be reflected during the process of drafting enforcement decrees for the upcoming "Essential Medical Support Act" to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Governor Kim Jin-tae emphasized, "Since we have overcome COVID-19 and various medical challenges together, I hope we will continue to communicate as one team. I will do my utmost to ensure that all residents can safely rely on public healthcare in the province."

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