Experts from the medical community attending the Blue House briefing advise President Moon... "Reducing severe patients is crucial"
[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] "The important thing now is how much we can reduce severe patients and deaths." Professor Eom Jung-sik of Gachon University Gil Medical Center (Policy Director of the Korean Society for Healthcare-associated Infection Control) called for a shift in thinking at the Blue House senior secretaries and aides meeting chaired by President Moon Jae-in on the 25th.
The core advice that medical experts accompanying the Blue House senior secretaries and aides meeting conveyed to President Moon was 'emptying.' Considering the spread of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) mainly in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, they urged that the health authorities' response should also change.
Experts explained that it is necessary to respond by separating severe patients from mild patients. Professor Eom said, "Special measures are needed for treating mild patients. We must abandon the idea that they must be treated in hospitals unconditionally."
Mild COVID-19 patients would be placed under 'self-isolation' in specific facilities, like the Korean residents from Wuhan, Hubei Province in China, and receive medical care from healthcare workers in those spaces. If mild patients are separated and managed this way, it would be advantageous for securing hospital beds for severe patients. The reason medical experts emphasized the importance of emptying is that the rapid increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases in a short period has brought about a shortage of isolation beds as a real issue.
Professor Heo Tak of Chonnam National University Medical School (Chairman of the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine) said, "When transferring severe COVID-19 patients from the community to higher-level institutions, some hospitals are reluctant to accept transfers to protect their own facilities," adding, "In places like Daegu and Gyeongbuk, using the central transfer coordination center when moving patients to other regions can solve this problem."
Associate Professor Lee Hee-young of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (Director of Gyeonggi-do Infectious Disease Control Support Group) also said, "Once the fire is out, it is easy to forget the next crisis. In Gyeonggi-do, three people take turns on duty to decide on bed allocation. I hope this example is widely utilized." This is a call to comprehensively judge which hospital to assign confirmed COVID-19 patients to or whether to transfer them to other regions when cases surge significantly in a specific area.
Professor Jung Hee-jin of Korea University Medical School (Vice President of the Korean Society of Antimicrobial Therapy) said, "It is necessary for local governments to quickly designate hospitals for treating severe patients among confirmed cases and implement a treatment strategy," and added, "While maintaining the existing medical system, I propose operating a special advisory group under the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters chaired by the Prime Minister to address disparities between local governments."
Meanwhile, it is an unusual scene for medical experts to participate in the Blue House senior secretaries and aides meeting and advise the president. This reflects the Blue House's serious recognition of the COVID-19 situation. Blue House spokesperson Kang Min-seok said, "President Moon chaired the discussion involving medical experts, and the serious conversation exceeded the scheduled time by 33 minutes."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
