A dispute has arisen among faculty members at Yonsei Medical Center, which manages Severance Hospital, following the disclosure that its director received an additional payment of 240 million South Korean won earlier this year, just after a controversy involving hospital management occurred.
As per reports from the healthcare sector released on the 10th, Yonsei Medical Center distributed a combined amount of 700 million South Korean won in bonuses to nine senior executives during January and February of this year. Director Geum Ki-chang was awarded 240 million South Korean won, with four hospital directors receiving between 60 million and 120 million South Korean won each, and four heads of departments/offices getting 40 million South Korean won apiece.
In order to achieve this, the center introduced new internal rules and categorized the payments as "hospital management allowance" and "administrative responsibility allowance." Nevertheless, certain senior hospital administrators allegedly contributed the entire sum back to the hospital right after becoming aware of the payments.
The recent disclosure has led academics to express worries. Last month, the faculty committee at Yonsei University School of Medicine convened and asked for verification of the details from the hospital.
A lecturer from Severance Hospital stated, "Throughout the administrative dispute in healthcare, 13,000 staff came together, rotated shifts for security duties, and voluntarily took unpaid time off to manage the emergency. However, according to reports, the hospital director supposedly received a 'personal incentive' (bonus based on performance). Such an occurrence has never been seen before during the medical facility's 140 years of operation."
The hospital responded by saying, "This was not a 'performance incentive' but an 'additional payment,' which was lawfully provided following established rules and processes. The wages and additional payments for the head of Yonsei Medical Center and others were less compared to leading hospitals, so extra support was needed. These figures were set after taking into account financial performance and salary structures at rival institutions."
It stated, "Nevertheless, we recognize the comments indicating that 'sufficient input from various members should have been collected' concerning the allowance. We will take feedback into account and implement enhancements moving forward."
No comments:
Post a Comment