Gyeongbuk Province Designates Emergency Medical Institutions for Mental Illness Patients... 'Emergency Teams' Activated in 3 Regional Zones

Operation of Pohang Inseong Hospital as a Regional Psychiatric Emergency Medical Institution

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] Gyeongsangbuk-do announced on the 23rd that it will designate and operate emergency intervention teams and base psychiatric emergency medical institutions for 24-hour emergency response to high-risk mental illness patients and suicide attempters.

Until now, field dispatches by city and county mental health welfare centers were only possible during weekday daytime hours, making it very difficult for police and fire paramedics alone to handle emergency situations occurring at night or on holidays.

As a solution, Gyeongbuk Province has been installing and operating regional emergency intervention teams at three mental health welfare centers since July, investing a total project cost of 350 million KRW and deploying 18 personnel.

Due to the characteristics of Gyeongbuk Province, which has the largest area nationwide, for rapid response, the jurisdiction is divided into ▲Eastern Region Wide-area Mental Health Welfare Center (Pohang, Gyeongju, Yeongcheon, Gyeongsan, Yeongdeok, Cheongdo, Uljin) ▲Northern Region Andong City Mental Health Welfare Center (Andong, Yeongju, Mungyeong, Gunwi, Uiseong, Yeongyang, Cheongsong, Yecheon, Bonghwa) ▲Western Region Gumi City Mental Health Welfare Center (Gumi, Gimcheon, Sangju, Goryeong, Seongju, Chilgok).

The emergency intervention teams respond to psychiatric emergencies by dispatching to the scene together with police and fire paramedics, inducing psychological stability through crisis assessment and counseling, and providing services such as hospital admission support and post-case management.

In July, Gyeongbuk Province designated Inseong Hospital in Pohang as a base psychiatric emergency medical institution, securing two permanent protection rooms to establish a 24-hour emergency admission response system.

Kim Jin-hyun, Director of the Welfare and Health Bureau of Gyeongbuk Province, said, "From March to May, due to the spread of COVID-19, psychiatric medical institutions avoided admissions fearing hospital infections, and there was an absolute shortage of psychiatric medical institutions capable of 24-hour emergency admissions, causing great difficulties in emergency admissions of mental illness patients. We will do our best to help treat severely mentally ill patients who are in blind spots through various projects in the future."

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