Seoul City to Fully Expand 'Post-Corona Health Care'... Customized Services for Health-Vulnerable Groups

Expanded Intensive Management of Underlying Conditions Including Post-COVID Sequelae for Patients Discharged from Municipal Hospitals After COVID-19
Health Care Teams Including Village Doctors, Nurses, and Nutritionists Visit Homes to Provide Physical and Psychological Health Care Services

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The health center’s “Visiting Health Care Service,” which was temporarily suspended due to COVID-19 response measures, will be expanded and reactivated as daily life returns to normal.

According to Seoul City on the 27th, the “Visiting Health Care Project” involves health care teams from local districts visiting the homes of vulnerable individuals with mobility impairments?such as elderly living alone, those paralyzed due to stroke, and frail elderly?to provide customized health management services for three months.

In particular, the city is expanding this into a post-COVID health care project to support the healthy daily recovery of vulnerable groups whose underlying conditions were not managed due to restrictions on outings and hospital visits during the pandemic, as well as citizens experiencing long-term COVID-19 aftereffects. Priority will be given to home care patients discharged from municipal hospitals who require continuous health management, focusing on managing underlying conditions such as hypertension and diabetes, including care for COVID-19 aftereffects.

The post-COVID health care program involves 15 autonomous districts. Eligible applicants are Seoul citizens residing in these 15 districts who need health care due to persistent COVID-19 aftereffects or those who require health care due to poor chronic disease management, including medication guidance and nutritional management after hospital discharge. Applications can be made by scanning the QR code on the notices distributed at each health center, community service center, and municipal hospital, or by calling the health care team directly.

The post-COVID health care service is a 4-week program. After an initial telephone consultation to assess the participant’s symptoms and health status, a health care team composed of medical professionals (doctors, nurses, nutritionists, physical therapists) visits the participant’s home to provide customized services. This includes consultation by a doctor to check for aftereffects, manage underlying diseases, advise on medication, and assess insomnia, as well as health measurements such as blood pressure and blood sugar. If necessary, the program supports continuous care by linking participants with private primary medical institutions.

Participants with poor nutritional status receive nutritional management from professional nutritionists to aid physical recovery, and rehabilitation exercise coaching from specialized physical therapists to help alleviate fatigue, empowering them to manage their health independently at home. Those experiencing psychological or economic difficulties are connected to appropriate welfare services and psychological support centers through counseling by social workers. Additionally, if intensive management of underlying diseases is needed after the 4-week health care program, participants will be linked to the existing 3-month Visiting Health Care Project for continued care.

Seoul City plans to expand the existing 3-month Visiting Health Care Project for vulnerable groups to include management of COVID-19 aftereffects through the “Post-COVID Health Care Project,” ensuring meticulous health management for the vulnerable. To this end, the city will continuously enhance the quality of health care services by providing capacity-building training for practitioners through the Health Care Support Group, monitoring counseling cases, and consulting experts, while also planning to expand participating districts.

Park Yu-mi, Director of the Seoul City Citizen Health Bureau, stated, “Due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable medical groups may have inadequate management of underlying diseases, making their health more fragile, so we will expand health care services centered on community doctors for focused management. We will continue to do our best to ensure citizens can recover healthy daily lives and receive ongoing management for chronic diseases.”