Provincial council approves closure of Jinju medical center

Members of the South Gyeongsang Provincial Council, who are affiliated with the ruling Saenuri Party, passed ordinance that calls for dismissal of the Jinju Medical Center. The facility’s closure was pushed by the council not considering the Saenuri leadership`s recommendation that urged the council to deliberate on the ordinance after the parliamentary inspection ends. The ruling and opposition parties planned to adopt a “plan for the parliamentary inspection" on Thursday. Members of opposition parties in the provincial council blasted the approval of the ordinance, saying that it was passed unilaterally and hastily and declared a legal battle, heralding looming after-effects.

The provincial council held its 308th extraordinary plenary session at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday and passed the “revision bill to ordinance on the establishment and operation of South Gyeongsang provincial medical centers” to allow for the Jinju Medical Center’s closure. It came on the 105th day after South Gyeongsang Governor Hong Joon-pyo declared his intention to close the center on February 26.

Kim Oh-young, chairman of the South Gyeongsang Provincial Council, declared the passage of the bill in a surprise move only five minutes after putting it to a vote amid the backing of council members affiliated with Saenuri, with 11 members of the Democratic Reform Coalition, the negotiating bloc for the opposition, occupying the podium to block the motion to hold vote. Kim hammered the podium with his hand, without holding the gavel. The electronic vote counting system was not operated.

In the chairman’s seat, Kim said, “Since you are well aware of this agenda, we will shelve Q&A and discussions. Now we are going to approve the original bill. Do you agree?” When council members with Saenuri replied “Yes,” he declared that “The bill has been approved as a majority of the council members consented.” Members of the Democratic Reform Coalition shouted “Opposed,” “Objection,” and “Unilateral, hasty passage.”

“(The ruling party) barbarically passed ordinance to dismiss the medical center, something more than half of the residents in the province are opposed,” the coalition said. “Unilateral and hasty passage using violence is void in the first place, and we will stage a legal battle and campaign to restore the original ordinance.”