Confirmed cases near 100,000... Deputy Minister of Health on Home Treatment Says "Hard to Get Through by Phone"

"Recognizing the Issues... Will Improve in the Future"
As Home Treatment Increases, Phone Medical Consultations Face Disruptions
Threatening Complaints Received Due to 'Phone Blackouts'

Ryu Geun-hyeok, 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] As the daily number of COVID-19 cases explodes, managing patients under home treatment is also facing difficulties. Recently, the Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, who is currently undergoing home treatment after testing positive for COVID-19, revealed that it was difficult to connect by phone with medical institutions.

Ryu Geun-hyuk, the 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, appeared on MBC Radio's "Kim Jong-bae's Focus" on the 16th and said, "Being a vice minister did not grant me any special treatment. I called several times to get a prescription from a medical institution, but they did not answer, so I got it from somewhere else." He added, "If you know how to get home treatment or prescriptions, you wouldn't be flustered even if you can't connect by phone, but most people undergoing home treatment for the first time would probably be confused."

Vice Minister Ryu tested positive for COVID-19 on the 11th through a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and is currently under home treatment. Classified as a 'general management group,' he can check his health status and, if necessary, contact medical institutions by phone for consultation.

He acknowledged, "I am aware of the problem of difficulty in phone connections. There are also areas where guidance is insufficient depending on the region," and explained, "This is an issue that the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) is actively working to improve."

On the morning of the 11th, employees are working at the Comprehensive Situation Room of the Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in Gwangjin-gu Office, Seoul. / Photo by Yonhap News

Earlier, the government revamped the home treatment system starting from the 10th to respond to the rapidly spreading Omicron variant. Accordingly, COVID-19 patients are classified into 'intensive management group' and 'general management group' for monitoring. The intensive management group, which includes vulnerable populations, receives medical support such as monitoring twice a day, while the general management group receives prescriptions through phone consultations with nearby medical institutions as needed, without such monitoring.

However, as the number of confirmed cases has surged explosively, the number of home treatment patients has also increased significantly, causing the counseling centers responsible for them to face management difficulties.

There have been cases where patients could not receive necessary consultations due to failure to connect with medical staff by phone, and some citizens have reportedly expressed dissatisfaction by verbally abusing or threatening medical personnel.

Regarding this, Park Hyang, head of the quarantine task force at the Ministry of Health and Welfare's CDSCH, responded during a regular briefing on the 16th to a question about increasing threats against home treatment counseling medical staff, saying, "If it worsens, we may need to determine whether it constitutes a legal issue."

On the morning of the 16th, the screening clinic at Songpa-gu Public Health Center in Seoul is crowded with citizens waiting to get tested. / Photo by Yonhap News

When asked if there are preventive measures, she said, "There are no immediate measures," but explained, "We will sufficiently promote behavioral guidelines that home treatment patients should follow when using medical consultations, and to prevent such situations as much as possible, we will inform home treatment patients in advance and provide education and publicity on how to respond in these situations."

Meanwhile, COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly day by day. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, as of midnight on the 16th, the number of new COVID-19 cases reached 90,443, surpassing 90,000 for the first time, which is about 1.6 times higher than the previous day's 57,175 cases.

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