Seegene Medical Foundation to Establish and Operate Gwangju Honam Testing Center

Gwangju City Signs Infectious Disease Prevention Agreement with Seegene Medical Foundation

Mayor Lee Yong-seop: "Rapid Specimen Testing Will Help Block Infectious Diseases"

On the afternoon of the 29th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, took a commemorative photo after signing a business agreement with Cheon Jong-gi, Chairman of the Seegene Medical Foundation, in the city hall business room for the early detection and prevention of infectious disease spread. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The disease testing specialized institution, Seegene Medical Foundation, is establishing and starting operations of the Gwangju Honam Testing Center in Haengam-dong, Gwangju.

Gwangju Metropolitan City announced that on the 29th, it signed a ‘Business Agreement for Early Detection and Prevention of Infectious Disease Spread’ with the disease testing specialized institution, Seegene Medical Foundation, at the city hall business room in preparation for the second wave of COVID-19.

Currently, Gwangju City is experiencing sporadic asymptomatic infections locally as well as the global pandemic of COVID-19. However, except for the Gwangju Health and Environment Research Institute, private entrusted testing institutions are mainly located in the metropolitan area, causing significant delays in testing times and inconvenience to citizens when the number of patients surged locally after the 27th of last month.

Therefore, Gwangju City viewed rapid and accurate specimen testing as key to blocking the spread of infectious diseases and has been promoting a business agreement with the leading domestic disease testing specialized institution, Seegene Medical Foundation.

According to this business agreement, both organizations will strive for mutual cooperation in policies and technology development to prevent and control infectious disease spread.

In particular, Seegene Medical Foundation plans to provide rapid and accurate test results related to COVID-19 and other new infectious diseases through the Gwangju Honam Testing Center currently being installed in Haengam-dong, Nam-gu, last month, while Gwangju City will provide administrative support necessary for the operation of the Gwangju regional testing center.

Seegene’s regional testing centers are the third after Busan and Daegu.

The Gwangju Honam Testing Center, covering an area of 2,150㎡, will have 58 employees including 5 specialists and 25 testing personnel stationed on-site, providing testing services to Gwangju City and the Jeonnam and Jeonbuk regions. With the completion of approvals from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the center is expected to begin full-scale operations after September, enabling over 10,000 specimen tests per day.

Established in 1990, Seegene Medical Foundation currently employs 800 staff members and can process 20,000 specimens daily. It has a specialized transportation and logistics system with 9 regional divisions, 7 regional headquarters, and 67 branches nationwide.

Cheon Jong-gi, Chairman of Seegene Medical Foundation, said, “While supporting the citizens of Gwangju who are wisely overcoming COVID-19, we will actively cooperate in early detection of infectious diseases and infectious disease response policies in the Gwangju region as a specialized molecular diagnostics testing institution.”

Mayor Lee Yong-seop stated, “With the establishment of Seegene Medical Foundation’s Gwangju Honam Center, rapid specimen testing can be conducted not only for Gwangju but also for Jeonnam and Jeonbuk, which is expected to greatly help in blocking the spread of infectious diseases. We will spare no administrative support necessary for the center’s operation.”

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