Rival parties seek to narrow differences on nursing act ahead of plenary session

The ruling and opposition parties were set to hold a parliamentary subcommittee meeting Tuesday to bridge their differences on a bill that calls for greater roles for nurses ahead of a plenary session this week. A subcommittee of the health and welfare committee will convene a meeting at 7 p.m. at the National Assembly and attempt to reach a last-minute agreement on the nursing bill, Assembly officials said. The subcommittee aims to put the bill up for a vote during the plenary session scheduled for Wednesday. The proposal of the bill comes as the government seeks to have physician assistant nurses take on greater roles amid a protracted walkout by trainee doctors in protest of a hike in the country's medical school admission quota. The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union, which has some 30,000 nurses and medical workers, earlier warned it would stage strikes at 61 hospitals across the country on Thursday. Source: Yonhap News Agency