Seoul Aug 29 (IANS): Most nurses and medical workers in South Korea called off their planned strike on Thursday after reaching last-minute wage deals, hospital officials said, easing concerns over public health services that have been strained by a protracted walkout by trainee doctors.

The Korean Health and Medical Workers Union (KHMU), representing some 30,000 nurses and medical workers, had planned to stage a strike on Thursday, demanding a pay raise and improvements in working conditions, Yonhap news agency reported.

Of the 62 hospitals under the KHMU, 59 called off their planned strike, hospital officials said.

The move followed the passage of a bill in parliament on the previous day that provides the legal basis for physician assistant nurses to assist doctors in performing medical procedures and offers better legal protection to nurses.

Nurses had advocated for the bill's passage, emphasising the need for legal protection and better working conditions, though it faced fierce opposition from the medical community.

Of the remaining three hospitals, medical workers at Chosun University Hospital in Gwangju, some 270 kilometres south of Seoul, are set to proceed with the walkout.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday hoped that the strike would not go ahead because it would be a problem for all the patients waiting for things to get back to normal. However, he said that essential medical services will be working in full force .

"Instead of taking collective action, such as a strike, I ask you to resolve problems through dialogue and compromise, and add your support for the completion of medical reforms aimed at improving our medical system's fundamental constitution," Duck-soo had said.

"I earnestly request that you withdraw the decision to strike in consideration of the patients and their families who have been suffering from anxiety for a long time due to the departure of trainee doctors” he added.