Anchor: To cope with the shortage of doctors over the Chuseok holiday, the government has designated the two weeks starting Wednesday as an emergency room contingency period. Meanwhile, a recent survey of health care workers revealed serious labor shortages at the nation’s emergency rooms. 
Our Yun Sohyang has more.  

Report: Ahead of the five-day thanksgiving holiday weekend, which begins Saturday, President Yoon Suk Yeol announced during Tuesday's Cabinet meeting that the two weeks starting Wednesday will be an ER contingency period to prevent any disruptions in emergency services. 

Yoon also said the government will significantly increase state health insurance payments for hospitals that stay open around the Chuseok holiday.

The president noted that more institutions had volunteered to remain open during this year's thanksgiving holiday. 

The move comes amid the prolonged absence of resident doctors, who resigned en masse in February to protest the Yoon administration's plans to boost medical school admissions and increase the supply of doctors in the nation.

The shortage of trainee doctors has increased workloads for senior doctors, pushing some ERs to reduce their service hours. 

A union representing the nation's health and medical workers said two out of three emergency rooms where it runs regional chapters are experiencing serious labor shortages. 

According to the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union on Tuesday, a survey of workers at 65 medical facilities between last Wednesday and Monday found that 42 facilities, or 64-point-six percent of the total, could not keep up with patient needs.

Thirty-three facilities, or 50-point-seven percent of the total, said their emergency rooms had cut back on service since trainee doctors walked out in February. Forty percent, however, reported no changes.

Sixty-one facilities, or 93-point-eight percent of the total, said their emergency rooms were operating every day, with 61 facilities saying they treated patients around the clock.

The union has called on the trainee doctors to promptly return to work.

It urged the political community and the media to stand with patients and the public, not with the doctors' groups that are calling for lower admissions quotas.
Yun Sohyang, KBS World Radio News.