By Cho Chung-un
Councilors from the ruling Saenuri Party in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, on Tuesday railroaded a bill that legally formalized the recent closure of a troubled public hospital, despite fierce protests by the main opposition Democratic Party and the labor union.
The bill was approved by a majority of councilors from the ruling party only five minutes after it was brought up to an emergency meeting at the provincial assembly.
After a tussle among rival party members, speaker Kim Oh-young declared that the bill won majority approval after simply confirming Saenuri members’ verbal consent, opposition members said.
Last month, Governor Hong Joon-pyo announced that the provincial government would shut down Jinju Medical Center, citing snowballing losses.
The former ruling party leader sparked a nationwide controversy when he warned that the government would shut down the country’s second-oldest public hospital unless its operations improved.
With the approval, the hospital and its properties will be put on sale.
(christory@heraldcorp.com)