A Site Without a Control Tower... Medical Staff Collapsing

Government's COVID-19 Response Lacks On-Site Feedback... Must Actively Address Staffing Issues

On the 20th, participants hold placards at a press conference titled "Condemning the Ministry of Strategy and Finance for Refusing to Increase Staff for Patient Care During the COVID-19 Crisis and Demanding Expansion of Staff Quotas at National University Hospitals," hosted by the National University Hospital Labor Union Joint Struggle Solidarity in front of the Blue House Fountain in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The Health and Medical Workers' Union has strongly urged the reinforcement of medical personnel responding to COVID-19 because the "medical burnout" phenomenon among healthcare workers is reaching a critical level. This also reflects concerns that the voices from the medical field are not being properly incorporated into government response measures. Amid the crisis of bed shortages, public and private hospitals must work together to secure stable beds and reinforce personnel, but the government is repeatedly issuing compulsory administrative orders while maintaining a passive stance on the essential issue of personnel support.

Na Soon-ja, chairperson of the Health and Medical Workers' Union, stated on the 20th, "The method of expanding beds by relying on urgent compulsory administrative orders in a chaotic manner without preparing for infectious disease national disaster situations must no longer be repeated," emphasizing, "A plan to secure hospitalization beds according to the disease and severity of infectious disease patients must be prepared in advance." The current situation, where the number of severe COVID-19 patients has hovered around 1,000 for three consecutive days, means that general patients inevitably have to be sacrificed due to the treatment of infectious disease patients.

It is also an urgent task to reorganize non-urgent, non-essential treatments and reallocate beds so that essential and emergency patient treatment can be carried out alongside infectious disease treatment. The union criticized, "It is a serious problem that even after two years of responding to COVID-19, there are no clear standards and guidelines for treatment, release from isolation, and bed management according to the disease and severity of infectious disease patients."

Recently, the government shortened the isolation release criteria to 20 days for severe patients, but there are criticisms that when the severity of severe patients decreases, they can be moved to other hospital rooms for treatment, or that rapid transfers are not made, increasing patients' hardships. The union argued, "Detailed guidelines for bed management according to COVID-19 patient severity?critical, semi-critical, moderate, mild?must be established, and the control tower overseeing medical response capabilities must be comprehensively reorganized."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

As the number of home-treated patients increased to 32,071 on the day, and the number of patients waiting for beds reached 765, the need for administrative and monitoring personnel to manage home treatment is growing.

The union stated, "Delays of 2 to 3 days in home treatment kits are common, and the workload for preparing monitoring lists for confirmed cases is increasing, with frequent confusion and errors in guidelines," adding, "Cases of patients deteriorating to severe conditions or dying due to emergencies are occurring one after another." As the workload of COVID-19 personnel intensifies, Gunsan Medical Center initiated the first strike among COVID-19 dedicated hospitals on the 17th.

Baek Soon-young, emeritus professor at the Catholic University College of Medicine, said, "Facilities such as gymnasiums and convention centers must be immediately converted into COVID-19 beds," adding, "The current COVID-19 pandemic clearly reveals the absence of a control tower and leadership."

According to the "2018?2021 Status of Staffing Shortages at Seoul Municipal Hospitals" submitted by Seoul City to Assemblyman Han Byung-do of the Democratic Party, the total staffing shortage at Seoul Medical Center and the Children's, Seobuk, Eunpyeong, Boramae, Dongbu, Bukbu, and Seonam hospitals increased significantly from 37 in 2018, before COVID-19, to 97 last year, and 172 as of November this year. In particular, the staffing shortage at Seoul Medical Center, a COVID-19 dedicated hospital, surged from 3 in 2018, 33 in 2019, 48 last year, to 123 this year. The average monthly overtime hours per nurse increased from 9.6 hours in 2018 and 9.2 hours in 2019 to 15.5 hours this year.

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