Drinking on the Job

[Anchor Lead]

When someone suffers a heart attack, emergency treatment must be conducted within the golden time window in order to save a life. This is why the Health and Welfare Ministry has established an emergency network system and designated certain hospitals for respective areas. The medical staff has to be ready at all times, but there are recent allegations that nurses assisting surgery had been drinking on the job.

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About 16 months ago in the middle of the night, a patient suffering from acute myocardial infarction was brought to this hospital. Medical staff are on standby around the clock at this particular clinic as it's a government-designated regional medical center. Four doctors and nurses immediately began to operate on the patient. But the operating surgeon found something odd.

[Soundbite] (Voice Recording (Voice modified)) : "How much did you drink? Your face is red. (3 glasses...) What about you? How much? One glass? (Yes. I get red with just one glass.)"

The nurses assisting the surgery had been drinking.

[Soundbite] (Hospital Official (Voice modified)) : "Myocardial infarction is a high-fatality illness. When you put something inside a patient's body, the slightest mistake relates to his or her life. It's an extremely important operation. And you come into the operation room after having a drink."

There has been testimony that it wasn't only on this day the staff on duty were drinking. The doctors who were in charge raised the issue and took measures, requiring the nurses in question to report their location of duty. However the hospital rather fired the staff members who made this request saying their orders were unfair. The chief of the hospital said the incident was reported but a nurse has also claimed she falsely confessed due to the high-pressured atmosphere at the time. The chief promised efforts to look into the facts of the case.