"Arrogant, Stop Showing Off" KMA Vice President Strongly Criticizes Nurses Association

Vice Chairman Park Yong-eon, "Welcoming the Nursing Act" Criticizes Korean Nurses Association
"As a pawn... If so, you should have gone to medical school"
Nursing Act Promulgated on the 20th... Effective June Next Year

Nurses affiliated with the Korean Nurses Association and related personnel held a general rally on the 19th around Sejong-daero, Seoul, condemning President Yoon Seok-yeol's veto of the Nursing Act. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Following the promulgation of the Nursing Act, which includes provisions such as clarifying the scope of nurses' duties and legalizing Physician Assistant (PA) nurses, Park Yong-eon, Vice President of the Korean Medical Association, unleashed criticism against the Korean Nurses Association.

On the 20th, Park posted on his social media (SNS), "Stop showing off. If you wanted to do that, you should have gone to medical school," adding, "You are pawns but mistakenly think you are players. I will omit the subject and object. Arrogant people." Along with this, he attached an image of a press release from the Nurses Association welcoming the promulgation of the Nursing Act bill. Even after the post sparked controversy, he added, "I apologize for the attention given to my writing, which lacks subject, object, and presence," and "I will read the articles carefully."

The Nursing Act promulgated that day clarifies the legal status, scope of duties, and authority of nurses and includes measures to improve their working environment. The Nurses Association stated in a press release, "The most important point is that the duties nurses can perform and those they should not perform have become clear, creating a foundation for providing safe nursing care. This enables the realization of the public value of universal health rights and social care for the people." They added, "The 650,000 nurses nationwide promise the public that, as always, they will stand by the people and do their best to build a healthy Republic of Korea. Going forward, we will uphold fairness and common sense in healthcare through the Nursing Act." Park’s post appears to be aimed at this response from the Nurses Association.

Meanwhile, the Nursing Act was first discussed in the 17th National Assembly in 2005 but failed to pass for a long time due to opposition from the Medical Association and others, who argued that it could encourage illegal medical practices by nurses and undermine medical professionalism. However, as the conflict between medical professionals prolonged this year, the enactment of the Nursing Act gained momentum. The Medical Association, which had consistently opposed the bill, saw its president, Lim Hyun-taek, undertake a six-day hunger strike but failed to achieve their goal.

The ruling and opposition parties agreed on the necessity of legalizing Physician Assistant (PA) nurses to fill the medical gap caused by the departure of residents, and the bill passed the National Assembly plenary session on the 28th of last month. The Nursing Act is scheduled to take effect in June next year, nine months after its promulgation.