When "Large Hospital Cooperation Request" Fails, Government Pulls Both Carrot and Stick After Five Days (Comprehensive)

Jungsubon Advances Emergency Medical Response Plan for Seoul Metropolitan Area
ICU Bed Occupancy Rate at 98.4%...Zero Available in Seoul
Administrative Order to Secure 1% of Private Hospital Beds
Government Announces "318 ICU Beds Secured"
But Sequential Operation Possible Only from the 23rd at Earliest

An additional 270 beds will be prepared to treat COVID-19 confirmed patients at the National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, a public hospital in the Seoul metropolitan area. The hospital plans to operate the 10th to 13th floors as dedicated COVID-19 wards, and from the 19th to the 28th, a total of 107 infected patients (including critical patients, semi-critical patients, moderate patients, and high-risk patients) will be accommodated in three stages. The photo shows patients being transferred to Ilsan Hospital.

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] As the number of patients infected with the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) surges, the government has launched an all-out effort to secure additional hospital beds amid the urgent shortage.

While beds for asymptomatic or mild cases in residential treatment centers and infectious disease-dedicated hospitals for moderate cases are being secured as originally planned, securing beds for critically ill patients requiring intensive care remains challenging. Ultimately, administrative orders have been issued to national university hospitals and private tertiary general hospitals capable of treating critically ill patients, along with various incentives such as evaluation exemptions and rewards offered to medical institutions cooperating in COVID-19 patient treatment.

According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 20th, the occupancy rate of COVID-19 severe patient treatment beds rose by 1.7 percentage points from the previous week to 98.4%. While residential treatment centers and infectious disease-dedicated hospitals have secured additional facilities and beds, resulting in a slight decrease in occupancy rates compared to a week ago, the situation is different for intensive care beds. In Seoul, there have been no intensive care beds available since the day before, and in the metropolitan area, beds for critically ill patients are virtually depleted.

On the morning of the 19th, securing available beds for severe COVID-19 patients is urgent. Construction workers are busy improving facilities such as negative pressure rooms at Bakae Hospital in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi-do.

The government announced measures on the 13th to secure an additional 300 intensive care beds, estimating the additional bed demand by severity level. Considering that treatment of critically ill patients is difficult in small and medium-sized medical institutions due to issues with facilities, equipment, and personnel, the government has so far requested cooperation mainly from large medical institutions such as private tertiary general hospitals. After discussions on securing beds following the announcement, an administrative order was issued on the 18th requesting each hospital to reserve at least 1% of their beds for intensive care treatment.

Yoon Tae-ho, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters’ quarantine team, said at a briefing that day, "After the measures were announced on the 13th, we discussed with national university hospitals and metropolitan tertiary general hospitals and suggested that it would be good to utilize about 1% of the authorized beds at each hospital as COVID-19 intensive care beds."

Installation work is underway for 'container temporary beds' equipped with negative pressure facilities, beds, and various other equipment at Seoul Medical Center in Jungnang-gu, Seoul. Photo by Mun Honam munonam@

After the bed securing measures announced on the 13th, discussions with large hospitals
"On the 18th, cooperate by reserving 1% of beds at national university and tertiary general hospitals"
Incentives and evaluation exemptions offered for conversion to dedicated hospitals

Under the current Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Act, the Minister of Health and Welfare, the Director of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, or local government heads can forcibly mobilize medical institutions and personnel. However, the government has so far responded by prioritizing the deployment of public medical institutions and personnel such as national and local medical centers. The government had been cautious about mobilizing private medical institutions and personnel, but given the recent critical situation, it appears to have taken coercive measures.

The government expects that more than 318 intensive care beds (81 at national universities and 237 at private tertiary general hospitals) will be additionally secured through these measures. However, this is a provisional estimate by the government, and the actual number may increase or decrease depending on how many beds each hospital can prepare. Since each hospital must transfer existing intensive care patients to other hospitals before freeing beds, preparations will be made in two stages on the 23rd and 26th.

Yoon said, "Currently, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters is continuously receiving information on how many available beds each tertiary general hospital can secure and actually operate. The headquarters has set a target, and after collecting feasible numbers from each tertiary general hospital, we will announce the final figure."

Citizens waiting to be tested at a temporary screening clinic set up in Seoul Station Plaza on the 20th, when 1,097 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) were reported, marking the highest number since domestic outbreaks began. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

For infectious disease-dedicated hospitals for moderate patients, whose condition is somewhat better than critically ill patients, the government is responding by increasing the number of base dedicated hospitals. The National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital has decided to convert all its beds into COVID-19 treatment beds, and Chungnam National University Hospital in Sejong is converting more than half of its beds into base dedicated hospitals. To allow medical institutions participating in COVID-19 response to focus on patient care, the government will postpone medical institution accreditation evaluations and provide administrative and institutional support such as additional medical quality evaluation points to participating hospitals.

Furthermore, incentives for private hospitals participating as infectious disease-dedicated hospitals have been strengthened, providing approximately 5 billion KRW immediately upon designation (based on 300 beds). Compensation for losses per bed for infectious disease-dedicated hospitals and severe patient treatment bed operating hospitals will be guaranteed at or above the average bed cost by hospital type, and the loss compensation period after the cancellation of dedicated hospital designation will be extended from the existing two months to six months.

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