Nursing Act 'Doomsday'... Aftershocks Inevitable Regardless of Outcome

Attention on the National Assembly Plenary Session on the 13th

The Nursing Act, which has sparked intense conflict in the healthcare sector, faced its decisive day on the 13th. As the rift deepened between the nursing community demanding the enactment of the Nursing Act and other professional groups such as the Korea Medical Association opposing it, the aftermath seems inevitable regardless of whether the Nursing Act is enacted on this day.

Proponents of the Nursing Act, including the nursing community, took direct action by demanding the enactment of the Nursing Act from the National Assembly until the day before the plenary session. On the 12th, the National Movement Headquarters for the Promotion of the Nursing Act held a “Wednesday Rally to Urge the Passage of the Nursing Act in the National Assembly” in front of the National Assembly. With an estimated attendance of around 20,000 people according to the organizers, participants held placards reading “The Nursing Act is the Parent Care Act” and “Starting Parent Care with the Advanced Nation’s Nursing Act,” urging the enactment of the Nursing Act. Na Sun-ja, Chairperson of the National Health and Medical Industry Labor Union, stated, “The Nursing Act must be enacted for nurses who are responsible for public care,” adding, “It is about breaking the doctor-centered professional dominance to provide better and improved medical care to the public.”

On the same day, the Health and Welfare Medical Solidarity, consisting of 13 professional groups including the Korea Medical Association opposing the Nursing Act, continued relay solo protests appealing to block the enactment of the Nursing Act. Hong Soo-yeon, Vice President of the Korean Dental Association, who participated in the solo protest, said, “We strongly condemn the Democratic Party for pushing the legislation and submitting it to the plenary session,” and urged, “We strongly call for a ‘no’ vote in the plenary session bill vote to demonstrate the democratic and reasonable nature of the Korean legislature.” The coalition plans for the 13 group leaders to begin a hunger strike on the day of the plenary session and to hold a “4 Million Health and Welfare Medical Solidarity General Strike Rally to Condemn the Forced Passage of the Nursing Act and Medical License Act” on the 16th.

In this situation, the People Power Party and the government previously proposed a mediation plan for the Nursing Act through inter-party consultations, but the nursing community expressed regret and clearly rejected it, stating that they denied the Nursing Act already agreed upon by both ruling and opposition parties. With no room for compromise, confusion in the healthcare sector is expected regardless of whether the Nursing Act is enacted in the National Assembly plenary session. If the Nursing Act is enacted, the joint general strike of the 13 opposing professional groups will intensify. As surveys on strike approval are already underway in each group, if the general strike materializes, a medical crisis could reemerge. Conversely, if the Nursing Act is not enacted, strong backlash from the nursing community and political accountability issues are expected to arise. The nursing community is pressuring the ruling party by emphasizing that the enactment of the Nursing Act was a campaign promise of President Yoon Suk-yeol during his presidential candidacy.

The conflict within the healthcare sector has deepened significantly during the Nursing Act enactment discussions, making future reconciliation difficult. If urgent issues such as essential medical support measures are affected, it will inevitably lead to harm to the public. In fact, when the Democratic Party-led decision to directly refer the Nursing Act to the plenary session was made last month at the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, the Korea Medical Association suspended medical-government consultations on essential medical support measures for about a month.