Gwangjin-gu Files Complaint Against Hyemin Hospital for Violating Infectious Disease Prevention Act

Temporary Closure and Quarantine Measures at Hyemin Hospital Following First COVID-19 Case... Hyemin Hospital Found to Have Sent Some Staff Home Without Health Authority Approval... Gwangjin-gu Decides on Strong Response Due to Concerns Over Nth Infection and Complaints Causing Work Disruptions

Temporarily Closed Hyemin Hospital

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Seon-gap) reported Hyemin Hospital to the police on the 4th for violating temporary closure and quarantine measures within the facility despite concerns of a cluster infection at Hyemin Hospital.

On August 31, the first confirmed COVID-19 case occurred at Hyemin Hospital. To prevent a cluster infection in advance, the district immediately imposed temporary closure and quarantine measures in accordance with Article 47 of the Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act (hereinafter referred to as the Infectious Disease Prevention Act).

However, investigations revealed that the hospital violated the Infectious Disease Prevention Act by ignoring quarantine orders within the facility without approval from health authorities and allowing some staff to leave work early.

Due to this, the district judged that strong measures were necessary as concerns about secondary infections among Hyemin Hospital workers, users, and Gwangjin-gu residents increased, causing public anxiety.

Additionally, related complaints surged, severely disrupting quarantine work. This report to the police follows the announcement on the 3rd stating, “We will respond firmly to acts that interfere with quarantine.”

As of the 5th, the COVID-19 status related to Hyemin Hospital shows that after one employee residing in Gangdong-gu was first confirmed positive on August 31, 17 additional cases were confirmed, totaling 18 cases.

The district immediately closed the hospital upon the first confirmed case, conducted disinfection, and sent emergency disaster messages to guide symptomatic visitors who had been at Hyemin Hospital from August 24 to 31 to undergo COVID-19 testing.

From September 1, joint investigations with Seoul City were conducted. From the 2nd, a temporary screening clinic was set up at Hyemin Hospital, testing a total of 766 people including hospital staff, inpatients, and users, resulting in 2 positive and 764 negative cases.

At the Gwangjin Public Health Center screening clinic, testing related to Hyemin Hospital yielded 9 positive and 186 negative cases. Seven other confirmed cases were tested at other institutions.

The district plans to conduct a second round of testing on the 5th for 430 close contacts and hospital-related personnel and will consider transitioning to partial closure depending on the test results.

Kim Seon-gap, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, expressed, “We deeply regret the public anxiety caused by the cluster infection at Hyemin Hospital. We will promptly and accurately disclose the movement paths of confirmed cases related to Hyemin Hospital as they are additionally confirmed and do our best to manage testing and self-quarantine for contacts,” in a statement released on the 3rd.

He added, “Since we promised residents to respond firmly and strictly to acts that interfere with quarantine activities, we judged that strong measures were necessary for Hyemin Hospital’s violation of the Infectious Disease Prevention Act, leading to this report.”

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