Politicians point out that the government should help ease the unemployment crisis among nurses by reducing the number of students at nursing schools, but officials are sticking to the gradual increase of nurses, saying it has long been planned.
“The nursing school enrollment quota increased by 1,000 this year, driving nursing school graduates this and last year to an employment cliff,” Rep. Lee Soo-jin of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said at a plenary session of the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee on Thursday. “Only 34 percent (of graduates) are now employed, compared to nearly 90 percent in the past.”
Rep. Lee pointed out that the nursing workforce should also be determined in the same way as doctors are.
“We need to think about how and how much they will be needed in the future and what role they will play in an aging society,” Lee said. “If they can't find jobs, shouldn't we reduce the number of nursing school students?"
The opposition lawmaker noted that she had called for the government to devise realistic measures to deal with the situation, including implementing an integrated service system of nursing and caregiving, drastically reducing the number of beds per nurse, or increasing the number of nurses per patient.
"What measures have you considered adopting and implementing,” Lee asked.
However, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo said that the nurse shortage is temporary and that the government will increase the nursing school enrollment quota as planned.
“The drop in the treatment volume of tertiary general hospitals amid the protracted healthcare crisis has contributed to the employment crisis of nurses,” Park said. “We have already announced plans to improve the quality of medical care in the field by expanding integrated nursing care services and gradually increasing the number of nurses and are implementing them step by step.”
Park added that the government will also consider such circumstances in determining the nursing school enrollment quota for 2025.