Dedicated Beds for Pregnant Women Confirmed with COVID-19 to Be Prepared... Outpatient Dialysis Room Also to Be Installed

At Seoul Municipal Seobuk Hospital in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, 119 paramedics and medical staff are guiding a COVID-19 confirmed patient into the hospital.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As medical capacity continues to deteriorate due to COVID-19, the government is stepping up support for special patients in blind spots, such as pregnant women, dialysis patients, and those with mental illnesses.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters for COVID-19 announced on the 21st measures to operate special COVID-19 beds, including designating separate beds for emergency deliveries of COVID-19 positive pregnant women and operating dialysis rooms for outpatient COVID-19 patients at regional dedicated hospitals.

Recently, although beds have been secured at medical institutions capable of delivering COVID-19 positive pregnant women, these beds have not been operated as dedicated beds for pregnant women with COVID-19, resulting in situations where beds were not assigned despite imminent delivery. In fact, on the 18th, a COVID-19 infected pregnant woman living in Yangju-si, Gyeonggi Province, was transported by a 119 ambulance and wandered for hours looking for a bed due to lack of availability, eventually giving birth inside the ambulance.

Park Hyang, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters’ quarantine team, said at the COVID-19 briefing that morning regarding the designation of special beds such as delivery beds, "To perform deliveries, not only obstetricians are needed, but also a neonatal room capable of isolation and a system to separately isolate and manage the mother and newborn after delivery." She added, "There are not many beds fully meeting these requirements?about two in Seoul, three in Gyeonggi, two in Incheon, and one in other provinces?so when intensive care unit beds are not available, assignment is delayed."

Regarding this, Park said, "We are discussing a plan to have hospitals that meet the conditions take turns keeping beds vacant," and promised to prepare such supplementary measures.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters plans to operate dialysis rooms for COVID-19 positive outpatients at four hospitals this month: Hyemin Hospital in Seoul, Bakae Hospital in Pyeongtaek-si, Gyeonggi Province, Uri Hospital in Gimpo-si, and Chungbuk National University Hospital in Cheongju-si, Chungbuk Province. Park explained, "Until now, dialysis has mostly been provided to inpatients, but for home treatment patients who need dialysis without special symptoms, there are currently about two hospitals operating outpatient dialysis." Among the 26 regional dedicated hospitals nationwide, 11 have negative pressure rooms where inpatients can receive dialysis treatment.

Additionally, special beds for COVID-19 patients include infectious disease dedicated nursing hospitals and infectious disease dedicated psychiatric hospitals. For special patients requiring other medical and care support besides COVID-19 treatment, 13 infectious disease dedicated nursing hospitals with a total of 1,989 beds are designated and operating. There are also six infectious disease dedicated psychiatric hospitals with 286 beds that can treat both mental illness and COVID-19. Hospitals for close contacts and non-contact dispersal patients with mental illness are also operating six facilities with 117 beds.

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