Five Locations Including Gyeonggi Medical Center Icheon Hospital Resume Emergency Room Operations

14 Public Hospital Emergency Rooms Gradually Resume Operations
Central Government Officials Extend COVID-19 Field Dispatch by 1 Month

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki Ha-young] Public hospitals that had suspended emergency room operations after being designated as infectious disease-dedicated hospitals due to COVID-19 will resume emergency room operations.

The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters (CDSCH) announced on the 25th that it will sequentially resume emergency room operations at public hospitals so that mild COVID-19 patients receiving home treatment can receive emergency care.

First, emergency room operations will be partially resumed at five hospitals under Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center: Icheon Hospital, Paju Hospital, Pocheon Hospital, Suwon Hospital, and Uijeongbu Hospital. CDSCH plans to have other institutions resume emergency room operations later.

Previously, 14 public hospitals, including Seoul Red Cross Hospital and various provincial medical centers, were designated as infectious disease-dedicated hospitals, using some emergency room beds as COVID-19 dedicated beds and suspending emergency room bed operations.

Additionally, the dispatch period of central government officials to COVID-19 medical sites will be extended by one month, from the 27th of this month to the 27th of next month. Due to the surge in COVID-19 confirmed cases, 3,000 officials from 42 central government ministries have been dispatched to health centers nationwide since the 28th of last month. Each ministry will autonomously decide whether to replace or extend the dispatch of existing personnel.

The government stated that it is considering providing incentives in response to the worsening manpower shortage caused by successive infections among workers at nursing hospitals and facilities. Park Hyang, head of the Central Accident Response Headquarters' quarantine team, said at a regular briefing that "efforts are being made to recruit medical personnel," adding, "Especially in nursing homes, where applying the medical institution BCP (Business Continuity Plan) is difficult, we are considering additional personnel support and incentive provision measures."

Regarding opinions suggesting that rapid antigen testing at public health center screening clinics should be suspended as hospitals and clinics participate in rapid antigen testing, it was explained that "related discussions have not yet progressed." Lee Ki-il, the first controller of CDSCH, said, "This is a matter to be decided after comprehensively reviewing PCR testing capacity and rapid antigen testing at medical institutions."

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