Gyeonggi-do Launches 'Confirmed Patient Health Management System' to Address Bed Shortage

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province is launching the 'Gyeonggi Province-type Confirmed Patient Health Management System' to address the shortage of hospital beds.

The Gyeonggi Province COVID-19 Emergency Task Force (co-heads Lee Hee-young and Lim Seung-kwan) announced on the 4th that, anticipating a shortage of hospital beds due to the high infectivity of the COVID-19 virus and the occurrence of community infections, they have decided to establish and operate the 'Gyeonggi Province-type Confirmed Patient Health Management System.'

To this end, the province will effectively classify the health management methods for confirmed patients and establish a system to continuously monitor their health status from the pre-hospital stage to the post-hospital stage. In particular, they plan to develop a severity classification and resource management platform and operate a safe call center staffed with medical personnel.

They will also establish health management standards for confirmed patients. A basic clinical (severity) classification guideline will be prepared using values that public health center staff can easily measure via phone or visits, and this will be databased.

Additionally, the province will operate a home health management service. For confirmed patients who are healthy and have mild symptoms, they will be allowed to self-isolate at home during the pre-hospital or post-hospital stages, with services such as material support through the local public health center, manual education, and patient status checks via the safe call center.

Co-head Lim Seung-kwan emphasized, "The current progression of COVID-19 is at an intermediate stage, spreading from small to large scale, requiring strategies to minimize and mitigate the epidemic in response to community spread. We will manage confirmed patients based on a database and build a medical institution network based on cooperation and trust to do our best in responding to COVID-19."

Earlier, on the 3rd, the province formed the 'Gyeonggi Province COVID-19 Emergency Task Force' with Lee Hee-young, head of the Infectious Disease Management Support Group, and Lim Seung-kwan, director of Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center Anseong Hospital, as co-heads.

The emergency task force was reorganized from the existing Gyeonggi Province COVID-19 Crisis Response Center to enable rapid and accurate infectious disease response amid the high possibility of a COVID-19 outbreak.

The task force will check the daily occurrence status of COVID-19 and discuss response directions with the province. They will also provide updates to residents through regular briefings three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

The task force previously formed an 'Expert Advisory Committee' for public-private cooperation. The committee consists of 21 experts who will provide advice on patient classification and adjustment of isolation bed allocation.

Meanwhile, as of midnight on the 4th, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Gyeonggi Province stands at 102, an increase of 3 from the previous day. Among the confirmed cases, 9 have been discharged, and 92 are currently in isolation treatment.

By city and county, confirmed cases have occurred in 18 cities and counties, including 18 in Suwon, 10 in Yongin, and 9 each in Bucheon and Icheon. Analysis of confirmed cases shows 28 related to Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and 26 related to Shincheonji.

Currently, the province has secured 139 hospital beds across 9 hospitals, including 3 nationally designated hospitals, 5 public medical institutions, and Seongnam City Medical Center. Of these, 53 beds are available. There are 10 confirmed patients hospitalized in other cities and provinces.

The province has established a cooperation system for hospital beds with advanced general hospitals in the province, including Bundang Seoul National University Hospital, Ajou University Hospital, Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Hallym Sacred Heart Hospital, and Korea University Ansan Hospital. Currently, 7 critically ill patients are receiving treatment at advanced general hospitals.

Among these, to support the national response to Daegu and Gyeongbuk, the province decided to transfer 25 moderate patients to Gyeonggi Province on the same day.

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