The nation's nurses will be given temporary legal permission to execute some doctors' duties as part of efforts to ease the strain on the medical system stemming from trainee doctors' collective action in protest of a planned increase of the medical school admissions quota.

According to the health ministry, the heads of training hospitals nationwide will be able redefine the scope of nurses’ duties through internal consultation starting Tuesday, depending on each nurse’s level of skill and qualifications.

Hospitals will be restricted from ordering nurses to take on duties outside the agreed boundaries, and hospital chiefs will also need to abide by the Labor Standards Act.

Medical practices banned under a Supreme Court ruling, including inducing general anesthesia with Propofol and pronouncing death, are nonnegotiable.

Last week, the Korean Nurses Association said its members were being forced to illegally perform patient consultations and fulfill other doctors' tasks to fill the vacuum caused by the mass resignations of trainee doctors.