SEOUL: South Korea granted nurses new powers and legal protections Tuesday, and launched an investigation into a patient's death, as hospital chaos caused by striking trainee doctors entered a second week.
Major hospitals are struggling to provide services after thousands of junior medics handed in their resignations and stopped working last week to protest against government plans to sharply increase medical school admissions in the face of a rapidly ageing society.
The government said Tuesday it has launched an investigation after a patient died of a cardiac arrest in an ambulance after struggling to find a hospital.
Emergency services contacted seven different hospitals but "were told there were no trainee doctors", the daily JoongAng Ilbo reported.
"The government is conducting an on-site probe with related agencies into the death," Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said.
The government has set a Thursday ultimatum for doctors to return to work, saying that legal action -- including prosecution and the suspension of medical licences -- will be taken against those who refuse.
The ministry also requested on Tuesday that police launch a probe into people connected to the strike, including five linked to the Korean Medical Association.
The mass work stoppage has resulted in cancellations and postponements of surgeries for cancer patients and C-sections for pregnant women, with the government raising its public health alert to the highest level.
Nurses will now be allowed to perform some medical procedures previously reserved for doctors, and offered immunity from potential lawsuits linked to their new scope of work, Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said.
This "will legally protect the nurses who are filling the medical vacuum created by trainee doctors' walkouts at hospitals", Park said.
The government said it needed to protect nurses because there were some "grey areas" about what medical treatments could be performed by particular staff.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday "medical reform cannot be subject to negotiation or compromise".
"No reasons can justify acts that hold lives and health of the people hostage," he said at a meeting.
Polls suggest up to 75 percent of the South Korean public supports the increase in medical school admissions.
Seoul says South Korea has one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among developed countries and the government is pushing hard to admit 2,000 more students to medical schools annually from next year. — AFP
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