"Wear Surgical Room Cheon Mask"... Public Mask Crisis Sparks Hospital Mask Shortage

Severe Shortage in Transition to Public Masks
"Government Lacks Priority Understanding"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] A mask shortage is looming in medical institutions. This is attributed to the government's implementation of the public mask policy without thoroughly assessing the mask demand within medical institutions.

According to the medical community on the 12th, the Korea Hospital Association has been receiving mask demand requests from medical institutions since the 7th and has been delivering masks sequentially from the 9th. The association is allocated 669,000 masks per day from the Public Procurement Service. Masks are delivered to frontline hospitals on a weekly basis.

The problem is that due to raw material shortages, mask production is insufficient, making the hospital allocation severely inadequate. Surgical masks are not supplied at all, and KF94 medical masks are allocated at only 30% of the number of beds (rooms). Dental masks (health masks) are supplied at about 60%. Major large hospitals in Seoul reportedly use around 8,000 masks daily. There are 3,639 hospitals nationwide affiliated with the association, of which 357 are general hospitals. Even considering only the 42 tertiary general hospitals that used about 8,000 masks daily before the infectious disease outbreak, the calculation shows a daily need of 420,000 masks.

Given this situation, a large hospital in Seoul recently issued a directive to the operating room stating, "Mask supply quantities are limited, and from this week, strap masks are no longer being supplied. We are conserving disposable masks and encouraging the use of cloth masks."

Even before the public mask sales, the mask supply situation in medical institutions was unstable. However, the situation worsened as 80% of the supply from the top three suppliers to medical institutions was converted to public mask supply. A representative from a university hospital in Seoul said, "We called mask factories nationwide, but all explained that they could not supply hospitals separately because they were fulfilling public mask orders."

Since the mask shortage in medical institutions was somewhat predictable, there are criticisms that the government should have properly prioritized when establishing the public sales policy. Professor Kim Dae-jong of Sejong University's Department of Business Administration said, "It seems the government was insufficient in assessing mask supply and medical staff demand," adding, "It is desirable to prioritize mask distribution first to medical staff dealing with confirmed COVID-19 patients, then to other medical staff, vulnerable groups, and citizens in that order." Professor Seo Yong-gu of Sookmyung Women's University's Department of Business Administration also said, "Since mask supply cannot be explosively increased, efficient distribution is important," adding, "Prioritizing medical staff caring for patients and at high risk of infection, and vulnerable groups who have difficulty receiving medical benefits, can minimize damage caused by COVID-19."

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