President Moon's Surprise Visit to New Nursing Officer Trainees Dispatched to Daegu

Visiting the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital to Check Support Status for Daegu and Gyeongbuk... Early Appointment of 750 New Public Health Doctors

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] President Moon Jae-in made a surprise visit without prior notice to the training of newly commissioned officers at the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy, who were dispatched to the Armed Forces Daegu Hospital, to encourage them. This is the first time a sitting president has visited the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy.

The 75 newly commissioned nursing officers of the Nursing Academy were commissioned as of March 1 and are undergoing various infectious disease response training, giving up their holidays with the goal of being dispatched to Daegu in early March. All of them have passed the national nursing examination and completed 1,080 hours of clinical practice at renowned hospitals nationwide, public health centers, and U.S. military hospitals during their four years of education.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Han Jung-woo, the Blue House Chuncheon Press Secretary, explained, "The visit to the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy is also intended to encourage and support military and public medical personnel who actively respond to the nation's call," adding, "Seventy-five officers, including seven male cadets, were commissioned as new second lieutenants as of March 1, and after the commissioning ceremony on March 3, they will be deployed to the Daegu area as their first assignment."

Earlier that day, President Moon visited the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital to check the status of COVID-19 patient admissions in the Daegu area and reviewed plans for additional support for medical personnel such as public health doctors, military doctors, and nursing officers, as well as medical facilities. This visit was to inspect the Ministry of National Defense's response situation following President Moon's directive on February 25 to "mobilize all available national resources to support the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions."

The Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital has been designated and operated as a 'National Infectious Disease Dedicated Hospital' since February 20 to accommodate civilian confirmed patients due to the increase in domestic confirmed cases. Currently, 34 COVID-19 confirmed patients (13 military personnel and 21 civilians) are receiving treatment. President Moon emphasized "Daegu and Gyeongbuk patients to the Armed Forces hospitals, military medical staff to Daegu," urging seamless support from the military medical team.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

After hearing a status report from Lee Jae-hyuk, director of the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital, President Moon received reports on major military measures and progress from Lee Nam-woo, Director of Personnel and Welfare overseeing the Ministry of National Defense's COVID-19 government-wide response support, and Seok Woong, Commander of the Armed Forces Medical Command, responsible for military medical support.

The Ministry of National Defense plans to ▲ rapidly deploy 750 newly appointed public health doctors to COVID-19 response medical sites this year ▲ postpone the military training call-up by one month for about 680 military medical officer candidates scheduled to be assembled on March 11, some of whom are already active in the Daegu area and other sites ▲ dispatch 75 newly commissioned nursing officers from the Nursing Academy to Daegu.

The Armed Forces Daegu Hospital, designated as a national infectious disease dedicated hospital on February 23, is currently expanding its capacity by deploying engineering units to increase the number of beds from 98 to 303 to accommodate additional confirmed patients. President Moon personally inspected whether various equipment in the negative pressure ward, where additional Daegu and Gyeongbuk confirmed patients will be admitted, was functioning properly, toured the walk-through specimen collection screening clinic, and encouraged the medical personnel.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.