Seoul City to Expand 'Outpatient Clinics' from 6 to 10 in January... Strengthening Home Treatment Infrastructure

In-Person Doctor Consultations, Testing, Antibody Treatment, and Prescription of Medications for Underlying Conditions Available for Home Treatment Patients
Seoul City Minimizes Anxiety for Home Treatment Patients... Antibody Treatment Early in COVID-19 Onset Expected to Reduce Severity

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 6th that it will expand the operation of the ‘COVID-19 Outpatient Treatment Centers,’ where home treatment patients with worsening symptoms can visit hospitals to receive face-to-face consultations with doctors, tests, antibody treatments, and prescriptions for underlying diseases, from 6 locations to 10 locations.

Currently, home treatment is the standard for all confirmed cases. As of this date, the number of home treatment patients in Seoul reaches 7,171. The city plans to expand outpatient centers capable of face-to-face treatment to alleviate patients’ anxiety and prevent severe cases, while strengthening the home treatment infrastructure.

Seoul’s ‘COVID-19 Outpatient Treatment Centers’ are currently operated at six locations equipped with thorough negative pressure facilities: Seobuk Hospital, Seoul Medical Center, Gangnam Bedro Hospital, Misodeul Hospital, Huimyung Hospital, and Hyemin Hospital. When home treatment patients experience worsening symptoms, they can receive face-to-face consultations with doctors along with blood tests, chest X-rays, and computed tomography (CT) scans to check for progression to severe COVID-19.

Use of the outpatient centers is available when home treatment patients are recognized by their home treatment management medical institution as needing face-to-face treatment and can make a reservation at the nearest outpatient center. They are safely transported with support from the local public health center’s ambulance service.

As of the 5th, 303 people have used the six outpatient centers. Among them, 144 were prescribed antibody treatment (Rekkiro-na-ju) and received injection therapy. Notably, antibody treatments, which had previously only been available at infectious disease-dedicated hospitals, can now be prescribed and administered at the outpatient centers if patients meet the prescription criteria, receiving positive feedback from users.

Seoul plans to expand the COVID-19 outpatient centers to 10 locations by January. In preparation for an increase in confirmed cases, the goal is to strengthen the system so that home treatment patients can safely receive face-to-face treatment and use antibody treatments early in the course of COVID-19 infection, thereby reducing the occurrence of severe cases.

Park Yu-mi, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Citizen Health Bureau, said, “As home treatment becomes the standard, we will reduce patients’ anxiety about non-face-to-face treatment and ensure they can quickly receive face-to-face consultations when necessary. We will expand the current six outpatient centers to 10 so that citizens can receive treatment within a systematic medical system and return to their daily lives quickly.”

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