Gyeonggi Province Actively Responds with Emergency Medical Care System for Public Hospitals Amid Doctors' Collective Action

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] On the 19th, Gyeonggi Province inspected the emergency medical care response system of public hospitals together with six hospital heads belonging to the Gyeonggi Province Medical Center as the doctors' collective action prolonged.

Deputy Governor Oh Byeong-gwon presided over a public hospital leaders meeting attended by six hospital heads from the Gyeonggi Province Medical Center at the provincial medical center headquarters and visited the emergency room at Suwon Hospital to encourage remaining medical staff.

The province decided on the 29th of last month to use approximately 1.1 billion won from disaster management funds to minimize medical gaps at public hospitals due to the doctors' collective action, reflecting salaries for newly hired doctors at the medical center and overtime allowances for nurses and administrative staff.

Additionally, the province extended weekday outpatient clinic hours until 8 p.m. at seven hospitals including the six hospitals under the Gyeonggi Province Medical Center and Seongnam City Medical Center, and 45 public health centers across 31 cities and counties in the province are also extending weekday clinic hours of operation.

Deputy Governor Oh Byeong-gwon stated, "In healthcare crisis situations such as doctors' collective action, the role of public hospitals is more important than anything else for stably providing necessary medical services to provincial residents," and urged, "Please continue to maintain the emergency medical care system by extending outpatient clinic hours."

He further encouraged on-site medical staff, saying, "In a situation where large hospitals are experiencing disruptions in medical care, our medical center is playing a major role in minimizing inconvenience to provincial residents as a public hospital. We extend our gratitude to the medical staff and employees."