An amended bill to prevent the so-called "emergency room ping-pong," in which emergency patients are shuttled between multiple hospital ERs without receiving timely treatment, was approved at a Cabinet meeting on the 4th. A bill to amend the law to increase transparency in commercial building management fees also passed.
According to the Ministry of Government Legislation, at the Cabinet meeting presided over by President Lee Jae-myung that day, 73 promulgation bills, including the promulgation bill for the amendment to the Emergency Medical Service Act, three presidential decrees, and one general agenda item were deliberated and approved.
The most notable bill is the amendment to the Emergency Medical Service Act to strengthen the communication system between hospitals during the transfer of emergency patients. The amendment requires the establishment of a dedicated telephone network between each hospital emergency room and 119 ambulance crews to check in real time whether patients can be admitted. Hospitals must also disclose their facilities, staffing, equipment status, and capacity through the emergency medical information network. The amended law takes effect in May next year.
Institutional improvements were also made to encourage proactive administration by public officials. The amendment to the Regulations on Proactive Administration requires each administrative agency to appoint a "proactive administration protector" and to provide legal counsel and litigation costs if affiliated public officials become embroiled in disciplinary action or lawsuits in the course of proactive administration. If the public official carried out duties according to the judgment of each agency's proactive administration committee, the official can be exempted from liability not only in internal audits but also in audits by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
This is a follow-up measure to the president's instructions. Lee previously noted at a senior secretaries' meeting in Jul. that "we must change organizational culture and systems so that public officials can work creatively and proactively," and mentioned institutional improvements.
Landlords' "trick management fee hikes" for commercial properties will also be blocked institutionally. With the amendment to the Commercial Building Lease Protection Act passing the Cabinet meeting, management fee items must be specified in the standard contract going forward, and if requested by the tenant, the landlord must disclose the management fee details.
In addition, with the passage of the amendment to the Act on the Establishment of Labor Day, starting next year the official name of "Workers' Day (May 1 every year)" will change to "Labor Day."
In addition, ▲ an amendment to the Child Care Act to provide additional national funding for daycare center operating costs in depopulated areas ▲ a new Act on Lifelong Education for Persons with Disabilities establishing the legal basis for lifelong education for people with disabilities ▲ and an amendment to the Income Contingent Loan for Higher Education Act to exempt interest on student loans for young people leaving child welfare facilities were also passed together.