Hospitals to hire backup staff for parental leave

General hospitals and other medical institutions will soon be required to hire backup staff for health care workers taking parental leave, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Thursday.

Tertiary hospitals must calculate the number of hours lost over the past three years when doctors, nurses and medical technicians took leave related to childbirth and child care — including leave for miscarriages, stillbirths and infertility treatments — and then add that number to the average number of hours worked during that period.

The measure follows a recent revision to the enforcement decree of the Act on Providing Assistance with Health Professionals.

Smaller medical institutions will also be required to hire additional staff based on criteria set by the health minister, depending on their type, size and operations.

The change will be implemented gradually starting Aug. 20.

Tertiary hospitals are general hospitals designated by the health minister to provide highly specialized medical services for serious diseases. They must have at least 20 specialized departments, function as regional centers for medical care and receive higher reimbursements from the national health insurance program.

According to officials, the revision is intended to ensure that hospital workers can take parental leave without worrying that their colleagues will have to shoulder additional workloads.

A recent study by the Korea Institute of Public Finance showed that most Korean workers support the concept of paternity leave, but more than 50 percent said they would not want their male colleagues to take it because of the increased workload.