Hospital under scrutiny for forcing nurses to dance
By Jung Min-ho
The government will look into a hospital that recently came under fire for forcing nurses to put on a sexually suggestive dance performance for an event it hosted.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said Monday that it will look into allegations that Sacred Heart Hospital of Hallym University in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, forced its nurses to dance in skimpy outfits in front of hundreds of colleagues and patients during an annual sports competition in October.
Inspectors are now gathering facts. If they find there was any illegal activity, they will report it to the prosecution, a ministry official said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Welfare urged the Korean Hospital Association to prevent similar incidents. The ministry said it plans to come up with its own measures to better protect the rights of nurses.
The case came into the spotlight after a video of nurses dancing on stage was uploaded on Facebook by a whistleblower.
In response, the Korean Nurses Association criticized the hospital for destroying nurses’ pride and violating their human rights.
The hospital is also suspected of failing to pay its employees for their extra work and telling them to make donations to Rep. Kim Jin-tae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party.