KHMU Newsletter No. 12 August 24, 2020 The KHMU’s Joint-Action at the
Industry Level Hashtag # Campaign for Safety
and Life: Join us with # 늘려요(# increase) Starting
from August 11, the KHMU (The Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union) has
been taking the industry-level joint action to overcome the COVID-19 crisis and
for victory of the union. The Union held press conferences and public campaigns
in five metropolitan cities across Jeonbuk, Chungbuk, Daejeon, Daegoo and
Incheon. Plus, it conducted the virtual live rally on YouTube at the head
office of Seoul. In the meantime, the head office of Gwangju and Jeonnam
orchestrated public awareness campaigns in and outside of hospitals,
which were waged by each branch of the region.
In the morning on 13th at the auditorium of
the KHMU Headquarters’ building, the industry-level union held a press
conference to urge the government to help secure more medical staff including
physicians so as to strengthen public medical services. “Going
through the COVID-19 crisis, we have reaffirmed the cracks of the Korean health
and medical system and the shortage of public medical staff.” said President Na
Soon-ja. She also emphasized that the Act on Support for Health and Medical
Personnel enacted last year should take effect as per the law. In
the comment session, a nurse, wearing a mask, reported
illegal medical services which risk patients’ safety. “As the number of doctors is less than needed in
hospitals, nurses have to work on doctors’ jobs even publicly. Sometimes,
nurses are supposed to operate and prescribe drugs. Illegal practices take
place all the time but in case of accidents, no one would take accountability.
Nurses know it is illegal but we cannot help following doctors’ instructions,”
said the nurse working for a polyclinic. The
nurse also put an emphasis that more doctors should be hired to end such illegal
practices. With
the joint-action, the KHMU calls for ▲ end illegal medical services that
threaten safety of patients and hire more doctors, establish public medical
schools ▲expand the public medical services and exempt the preliminary feasibility study when establishing public medical
institutions ▲
Establish a human resource development institute as a follow-up
measure for the Act on Support for Medical Personnel and secure additional
medical staff ▲
Regularize irregular job positions ▲ Stop medical privatization, part of which
includes online medical treatment In
addition, the KHMU declared that it will apply for industrial mediations
regarding the wage negotiations on 11th and for the 15 day-long
mediation period, intensive negotiations and in-field struggles will take
place. The
members of the KHMU who participated in the joint-action shared their words as
follows: “Korean people’s encouragement and support have been a big energy for
frontline medical workers fighting against COVID-19.” They suggested people to
join in the #늘려요(# increase)
campaign following the #덕분에(# thanks to) to
protect safety and life of people.
The KHMU’s Joint-Action at the Industry Level, Hashtag # Campaign for Safety and Life: Join us with
by KANG,YeonBae posted Aug 24, 2020 Replies 0