Jeonbuk Province Opens Regional Psychiatric Emergency Medical Center at Wonkwang University Hospital

System Established to Support Continuous Treatment for Mental Illness Patients 365 Days a Year

[Jeonju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho] Jeonbuk Province announced on the 31st that it held an opening ceremony for the ‘Regional Mental Emergency Medical Center’ at Wonkwang University Hospital for the treatment of patients with mental illnesses and will begin full-scale operation starting in June.

The Regional Mental Emergency Medical Center provides simultaneous emergency medicine and psychiatry treatment in emergency situations involving patients with mental illnesses who are at high risk of self-harm or harm to others, aiming to promote the patients’ physical and emotional stability.

Until now, frontline sites have long expressed difficulties in admitting and treating emergency patients with mental illnesses.

In cases of emergency patients with mental illnesses who have attempted self-harm, both surgical treatment and psychiatric treatment must be provided simultaneously; however, surgical hospitals often refuse admission citing the lack of psychiatric wards, and psychiatric hospitals refuse admission due to the inability to provide trauma treatment.

With the operation of this Regional Mental Emergency Medical Center, a 24-hour response system will be established for emergency situations involving patients with mental illnesses, enabling immediate initial response and intensive treatment.

Jeonbuk Province was selected in the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s public contest last February, securing a project budget of 600 million KRW (300 million KRW from the national government and 300 million KRW from the provincial government). Together with Wonkwang University Hospital, they prepared two dedicated beds and deployed five specialists aiming to operate the center starting in June.

Jeonju=Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Han-ho stonepeak@asiae.co.kr

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