Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said Wednesday that he would work with the medical community to improve the country's emergency health care.

During a meeting with employees of Korea University Anam Hospital in Seoul, Kim addressed common complaints about the so-called emergency room roulette phenomenon, in which patients are unable to find an emergency room and are left to wander from hospital to hospital.

He expressed sympathy for medical workers, saying such criticism must feel unfair to those doing their best to care for those in serious need of help.

He argued that emergency medical care requires the limited use of scarce resources and that discussions must take place about whether all hospitals should be available 24 hours a day for minor ailments or whether it's more important that the most critical cases receive the best treatment at the appropriate facilities.
 
Kim said he would form a medical innovation committee, involving the public, to discuss the issue and work with the medical community to find a solution.