Seoul St. Mary's, Severance Hospital, and 2 Others Designated as 'Excellent Infectious Disease Pathogen Identification Institutions'

Pilot Designation System for Excellent Infectious Disease Pathogen Identification Institutions

Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Korea University Anam Hospital, Seoul National University Hospital, and Severance Hospital have been designated as 'Excellent Infectious Disease Pathogen Identification Institutions.'

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced on the 22nd that these institutions were pilot-designated and held a plaque ceremony at Severance Hospital to commemorate the occasion.

The designation system for Excellent Infectious Disease Pathogen Identification Institutions is a system that pre-designates testing institutions with outstanding testing capabilities to secure large-scale testing capacity in the shortest possible time during infectious disease crises.

The KDCA judged that the pre-established large-scale testing system in cooperation with private medical institutions during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 was the foundation for the initial response. Based on that experience, it is known that they decided to establish such a system.

These Excellent Infectious Disease Pathogen Identification Institutions will participate in infectious disease crisis preparedness activities in cooperation with the KDCA, such as simulation training and joint proficiency evaluations. In times of crisis, they will actively conduct testing in the field of pathogen identification diagnostics.

Ji Young-mi, Commissioner of the KDCA, stated, "We will establish a system that actively utilizes the excellent diagnostic testing capabilities of domestic private medical institutions to respond swiftly in the event of a future infectious disease pandemic crisis."

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