Welfare Minister Cho Kyu-hong: "Improving Disaster Emergency Medical Manuals... Considering Introduction of Automatic Dispatch System"

On-site - Smooth Communication Needed for DMAT ... Expansion of Personnel and Equipment Also Required

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Health and Welfare Minister Cho Kyu-hong announced that he will review the disaster emergency medical manual to prepare for crowd congestion accidents like the Itaewon tragedy.

Minister Cho appeared before the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee on the 7th and responded to the Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Sun-woo's remark, "Could the Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) have responded faster?" by saying, "The Central Emergency Situation Room requested the dispatch of the first team and made six additional requests afterward."

Minister Cho said, "(Regarding the DMAT dispatch request) I understand that the Central Emergency Situation Room does not obtain information on its own but receives it from the Fire Department's Ambulance Situation Management Center to issue orders," adding, "We will review whether the information provided by the Ambulance Situation Management Center was appropriate and whether the Central Emergency Situation Room's medical response orders were proper, then propose improvement measures."

He also stated, "Smooth communication between the on-site emergency medical post, which leads the field command, and DMAT is necessary, and institutional expansion of personnel and equipment should be considered together," adding, "there is a need to introduce a system where DMAT automatically dispatches during disaster situations."

In response to Democratic Party lawmaker Shin Hyun-young's question about whether securing hospital beds and patient transport were appropriate, he replied, "I believe the Central Emergency Situation Room did its best."

Regarding the criticism that the concentration of deceased at Soonchunhyang University Hospital near the accident site caused difficulties in transporting critically ill patients, he said, "Considering the emergency room and bed capacity, it is true that 76 bodies, exceeding the maximum capacity, were concentrated at Soonchunhyang University Hospital, but I understand that this did not cause any disruption to emergency treatment of critically ill patients."

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that Minister Cho received the report on the accident at 12:56 a.m. on the 30th, about 2 hours and 40 minutes after the incident occurred. This was 50 minutes later than President Yoon Suk-yeol's instruction to the Ministry of Health and Welfare at 12:06 a.m. to "quickly activate the emergency medical system, dispatch DMAT, and secure emergency beds at nearby hospitals."

Minister Cho disclosed the time he received the report and emphasized, "I have always stressed 'action first, report later,' and regardless of when I received the report, our health authorities' emergency medical response system has been operating since 10:38 p.m. on the 29th."

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