 |
| ▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, in this file photo taken April 4, 2023. (Yonhap) |
Yoon-nursing act
Yoon set to veto controversial nursing act
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, May 16 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to veto the opposition-led nursing act Tuesday amid strong protests from doctors and nursing assistants against it, in what would be his second veto of a bill since he took office.
Yoon is expected to reject the legislation during a Cabinet meeting, requesting the National Assembly to reconsider the bill.
The ruling People Power Party and the government agreed during a high-level policy consultation meeting Sunday to ask Yoon to veto the bill, saying it would take the people's health and lives hostage.
The act, which was railroaded by the main opposition Democratic Party last month, is aimed at stipulating the roles and responsibilities of nurses, and improving their working conditions.
Doctors and assistant nurses have opposed the bill, arguing the legislation would cause confusion in the medical sector because it could lead to nurses opening their own clinics without doctors' supervision and that nursing assistants could be discriminated against.
Nurses tout the bill as essential in redefining their work as a more independent and professional service amid growing medical needs. They also argue that the act was one of Yoon's campaign promises ahead of last year's presidential election.
This will be the second time Yoon has vetoed a bill after he rejected a revision to the Grain Management Act last month, which required the government purchase of surplus rice.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
