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A patient walks by a banner hung at the National Medical Center in Seoul on Aug. 25, 2024, declaring the start of a strike on Aug. 29 by the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union amid an ongoing health care vacuum left by residents and interns. (Yonhap)

Nurses and other health care workers who have been filling the gap left by interns and residents following their exodus from training hospitals have now announced plans to launch a general strike this Thursday.

Observers are worrying that this strike could have a huge impact on treatment and surgeries as it compounds the staffing shortage that has been afflicting health care settings for over half a year already.

Nurses and other staff members who perform essential services in emergency rooms and intensive care units will not be taking part in the action.

Between Aug. 19 and 23, the Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union (KHMU), which includes nurses and medical technicians among its members, held a vote on a strike at 61 hospitals. The union announced Saturday that 91% of those who voted were in favor.

A total of 24,257 of the 29,705 union members at the 61 workplaces cast their votes, representing a participation rate of 81.66%. Of that number, 22,101 (91.11%) voted in favor of a general strike.

“The high rates of voting and approval show the urgent demands of union members who have been withstanding grinding conditions amid a health care vacuum that has persisted for over six months,” the union said of the vote. 

The union’s demands include the normalization of rushed treatment practices, a ban on the shifting of responsibility due to the physicians’ collective action, and a 6.4% raise relative to total pay.

The 61 hospitals where members announced plans to strike included the National Medical Center, Korea University Medical Center, and Hanyang University Hospital. They did not include any of the so-called “big five” of large major hospitals in Seoul.

The question of whether the KHMU would launch a general strike hinged on the outcome of coordination with the hospital employers.

After the breakdown of wage and collective agreement negotiations, the union submitted labor dispute settlement applications on Aug. 13 with the National Labor Relations Commission and its regional branches. If no settlement can be reached by Wednesday, the KHMU plans to commence a simultaneous strike by its members effective at 7 am on Thursday.

Nurses and other workers have complained of the interns’ and residents’ collective action leaving them faced with an insecure working environment.

“This March, I was suddenly assigned PA [physician assistant] duties,” said a nurse working at a tertiary hospital in Busan.

“It’s been troubling to go into operations and do duties I haven’t been trained in, and the scope of my duties has been gradually expanding,” they added.

Song Eun-ok, the director of the KHMU’s Korea University Medical Center chapter, explained, “At teaching hospitals, there have been many cases of nurses and others going on unpaid leave or being assigned as PAs against their will, and this situation has led to severe discontent as things have gotten tougher for the remaining staff in the places where they had been working.”

Even if the strike goes ahead, the union plans to have members continue to perform duties with a direct impact on patient lives, including those in emergency and operating rooms, intensive care units, delivery rooms, and newborn units.

But some insiders are worrying that the health care vacuum could end up worsening.

“Since the interns and residents left, the number of duties handled by nurses has increased,” said a surgery professor at one Seoul tertiary hospital where union members are planning to strike.

“Even if they leave behind staff to perform essential services, the strike will have a big impact, with the potential for some operations to be postponed," they warned.

The administration has said it intends to take response measures to ensure no setbacks in health care even if the KHMU proceeds with the strike.

In a 60th meeting on Sunday, its central disaster management headquarters for the physicians’ collective action announced plans to “maintain a 24-hour emergency treatment system by emergency centers and others if the strike comes to pass” and to “implement emergency treatment focusing on public health care institutes [where staff are] not participating in the strike."

By Kim Yoon-ju, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]