44 Nationwide Emergency Medical Institutions Fail to Meet Legal Standards for Facilities and Personnel

Ministry of Health and National Medical Center Announce 'Emergency Medical Institution Evaluation'
Regional Emergency Centers Hanyang University Hospital and Jeju Halla Hospital Receive 'C Grade'
Increase in Specialist Care and Final Treatment for Severe Patients

Seoul National University Hospital Regional Emergency Medical Center. [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] Among 408 emergency medical institutions nationwide, 44 were found to have failed to meet the legal standards for facilities, personnel, and equipment. Among the regional emergency medical centers, Hanyang University Hospital and Jeju Halla Hospital received a C grade, indicating non-compliance with the standards.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Medical Center announced the results of the "2022 Emergency Medical Institution Evaluation," which assessed the level of emergency medical services at institutions nationwide, on the 28th.

This evaluation targeted a total of 408 institutions, including 40 regional emergency medical centers, 125 local emergency medical centers, and 243 local emergency medical institutions. It assessed 24 indicators across five areas: essential areas, safety, effectiveness, functionality, and publicness. Institutions in the top 30% within the same emergency medical institution category group were assigned an A grade, those failing to meet essential area requirements or found to have committed fraudulent acts were assigned a C grade, and the remaining institutions were given a B grade.

First, the proportion of emergency medical institutions that met all legal standards was 89.2%, a decrease of 9.8 percentage points from 99.0% last year. This decline is believed to be influenced by the fact that some indicators were not evaluated last year due to the COVID-19 situation and the strengthening of personnel standards following amendments to the Emergency Medical Service Act. The rate at which specialists directly treated severely emergency patients within an appropriate time (92.8%) and the rate at which final treatment was provided at the institution (89.6%) both improved, while the rate of completing treatment without transferring severely ill patients who were admitted decreased slightly to 98.2% compared to last year.

For the 44 institutions that received a C grade due to failure to meet designation criteria (essential areas) in this evaluation, administrative measures such as fines will be imposed through the relevant local governments. By category, these include 2 regional emergency medical centers, 7 local emergency medical centers, and 35 local emergency medical institutions. The current Emergency Medical Service Act stipulates that a fine of up to 3 million KRW may be imposed if facilities, etc., according to the designation criteria of emergency medical institutions are not maintained.

Kim Eun-young, Director of the Emergency Medical Service Division at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said, "The emergency medical institution evaluations have greatly contributed to improving the quality of emergency medical services so far," adding, "We will continue to strive to reorganize the emergency medical system aiming for conclusive emergency treatment up to final care within the region where the patient occurs, according to the '2023?2027 Basic Emergency Medical Plan' scheduled to be announced next year."

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