Seoul Red Cross Hospital operated as a Seoul city-designated infectious disease specialized hospital [Asia Economy Reporter Choi Dae-yeol] The government has decided to provide over 130 billion won to hospitals that suffered losses while treating patients with the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).
According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters on the 29th, the Loss Compensation Deliberation Committee held the previous day reviewed and approved a proposal to additionally provide 130.8 billion won in preliminary compensation to 66 infectious disease-dedicated hospitals. Preliminary compensation refers to an amount paid provisionally, estimating all or part of the losses before the final confirmation of losses, as a measure to alleviate the financial difficulties of frontline medical institutions.
Earlier, as the number of COVID-19 patients increased, the government judged that negative pressure isolation beds alone were insufficient and designated some medical institutions as infectious disease-dedicated hospitals to focus on treating COVID-19 patients. In the first round, preliminary compensation of 102 billion won was paid to 146 institutions, and the second round of preliminary compensation, originally scheduled for next month, will be advanced and paid within this month.
Even general hospitals face a structure where losses occur if designated as infectious disease-dedicated hospitals because it becomes difficult to admit other patients. Infectious disease-dedicated hospitals treat patients in negative pressure beds isolated from the outside, which often requires keeping beds vacant in advance, leading to potential losses. The scope of preliminary compensation this time was determined by calculating losses incurred from securing beds at the request of the government or local governments but not using them, as well as losses in medical fees from beds used to treat COVID-19 patients.
According to the government, the average preliminary compensation per medical institution is expected to increase nearly threefold from about 700 million won in the first round to approximately 2 billion won. The government plans to provide preliminary compensation monthly going forward and will also establish separate criteria to compensate losses incurred by pharmacies and general businesses.
Kim Kang-lip, the first chief coordinator of the Disaster and Safety Headquarters, stated at a briefing that "the payment is an urgent advance payment of part of the total loss target and is not the final loss compensation," and pledged to continue supporting loss compensation steadily.
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