[Itaewon Tragedy] Ministry of Health and Welfare Provides Psychological Support to Over 1,000 Injured, Bereaved Families, and Witnesses

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The Ministry of Health and Welfare has formed the 'Itaewon Accident Integrated Psychological Support Team' to provide psychological treatment to the injured, bereaved families, and others affected by the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush accident.

On the 30th, the Ministry announced that starting from that day, it would operate the 'Itaewon Accident Integrated Psychological Support Team' (Support Team), which includes the National Trauma Center, Seoul Metropolitan Mental Health Center Yongsan, and basic mental health welfare centers.

The Support Team will be composed of 100 members, allowing one staff member to support 10 people. Psychological support will be provided to approximately 600 bereaved family members, 150 injured individuals, and about 1,000 witnesses and others.

The National Trauma Center will participate with 2 specialists, 18 mental health professionals, and 30 administrative staff, and personnel will also be dispatched from metropolitan and basic mental health welfare centers.

The Support Team will visit hospitals where the injured are admitted and the mortuary for the deceased, and conduct counseling by phone for bereaved families and the injured. Before starting psychological support activities, official letters are sent to hospitals where the injured are admitted to inform them about the support activities and to collect contact information of bereaved families and the injured.

For the deceased, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is operating a funeral support team jointly with Seoul City and others. Currently, the injured and deceased are distributed across 59 hospitals in the metropolitan area.

The funeral support team is led by the Director of the Population Policy Office of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, with nine members including team leaders at the director level. A total of 61 members of the field response team were formed on the same day and dispatched to the field, and one Ministry of Health and Welfare staff member is assigned to each of the 59 hospitals and funeral homes where casualties are present. The field response team confirms and supports the needs of bereaved families, guardians, patients, and others, including medical, psychological, and funeral support.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Welfare Cho Kyu-hong visited Soonchunhyang University Hospital in Seoul at around 2:40 p.m. on the same day. Minister Cho said, "I came to inspect the site to ensure that medical support is provided without any issues," and added, "We will do our best to cooperate with local governments so that the injured can return to their daily lives as soon as possible."

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