Daegu City, Rejected in Yeongnam Region's 'Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital' Contest, Protests "Additional Designation Needed"

On June 14, the evaluation committee from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency conducted an on-site assessment of the Yeongnam Regional Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital at Daegu Catholic University Hospital.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] In the public contest for the Yeongnam region infectious disease specialized hospital, only Yangsan Pusan National University Hospital was selected among the seven applicant hospitals, prompting Daegu City and the MedCity Daegu Council to demand additional designations and express opposition.

On the 19th, Daegu City issued a statement saying, "Daegu is a region that suffered tremendous damage due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and at the same time is a model city for quarantine that wisely overcame it," adding, "The attraction of an infectious disease specialized hospital was the unanimous wish of the 5.5 million residents of Daegu and Gyeongbuk, and it is deeply regrettable that this selection result ignored that."

It continued, "The population of the Yeongnam region is 12.83 million, more than twice that of the Jungbu region with 5.53 million or the Honam region with 5.15 million," and stated, "Ignoring this population composition and installing only one hospital in the Yeongnam region is problematic," urging for additional specialized hospital designations.

The MedCity Daegu Council also said, "There is no doubt that Daegu is the optimal location for establishing an infectious disease specialized hospital," and demanded additional designations, stating, "The plan to install only one hospital per region regardless of population composition was flawed from the start."

Meanwhile, in the public contest for the Yeongnam region infectious disease specialized hospital by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, four hospitals from the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area?Chilgok Kyungpook National University Hospital, Yeungnam University Hospital, Keimyung University Hospital, and Daegu Catholic University Hospital?one hospital from the Busan area?Sahmyook Busan Hospital?and two hospitals from the Gyeongnam area?Changwon Gyeongsang National University Hospital and Yangsan Pusan National University Hospital?applied. Among these seven hospitals, 'Yangsan Pusan National University Hospital' was ultimately selected.

Yangsan Pusan National University Hospital plans to build a specialized hospital by 2024 by investing 40.7 billion KRW in national funds plus an additional 36 billion KRW from the hospital’s own budget, creating a connecting passage between the main building and the basement first floor to clearly separate the movement paths of medical staff, infected patients, and non-infected individuals.

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