By Kim Jae-won
A dispute over the future of a provincial government-run general hospital in the southeastern city of Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province has become a test of the region’s commitment to public health care.
Tensions between the provincial government and the trade union at Jinju Medical Center (JMC) are running high because the former seeks to shut down the center because of financial reasons, while the union opposes it, stressing that the hospital mostly provides care and services to low-income families.
The conflict peaked on Monday when three JMC employees were hospitalized with dehydration, after staging a six day hunger strike. Six more employees still refuse to eat anything, in protest of the provincial government’s plan to close the hospital which boasts 102 years of history and is one of the oldest hospitals in the country.
“There are still 120 patients in JMC. Most of them are in for the long-term, receiving intensive care from the hospital. Some of them are spending their final days of life in the hospice unit,” stated the union in a release.
The union also said that more than 70 percent of residents in the province oppose the provincial government’s decision to close JMC.
But the provincial government said that it won’t drop its plan to close JMC because it has lost its purpose of being a public hospital and shows no sign recovery.
“Medical services are oversupplied in Jinju because there are three general hospitals and 11 private hospitals. JMC lags behind in terms of profitability,” said a high-ranking official of the provincial government asking not to be named.
The official said that JMC posted 6.9 billion won of net loss last year. A total of 247 employees are working in the hospital, including 24 doctors and 112 nurses, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The official said that new Governor Hong Joon-pyo took the initiative to close the hospital sometime in late February when he took office following a by-election victory. The veteran politician planned restructuring the provincial government as part of an overall reform plan.
Experts say that the provincial government needs to consider keeping JMC because of the role it plays in providing medical services to the marginalized.
“Public hospitals play a critical role in providing services to people in provincial regions who cannot access private medical institutions,” said Kim Dae-jung, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
Kim said that Korea needs to benchmark France which expanded public medical services in cooperation with private hospitals.
“It is a good way of using private medical institutions as channels for public medical services. Instead, the government can support them financially, such as paying subsidies, or providing tax benefits,” he said.
The population of Jinju marked 335,000 in 2012, according to data from the city government.