City Minimizes Medical Gaps with 'Emergency Medical Measures'
Seoul Medical Center and 3 Others Operate Emergency Rooms 24 Hours
Consider Extended Treatment at Health Centers in 25 Districts
The Seoul Metropolitan Government is preparing to respond to collective actions by the medical community opposing the increase in medical school admissions by extending the consultation hours at eight municipal hospitals.
On the 19th, the city announced that it has established an emergency medical response plan to minimize medical service gaps and citizen inconvenience amid the anticipated collective resignation of residents and other collective actions by the medical community.
On the 16th, when student representatives decided that medical students nationwide would submit leave of absence applications together on the 20th in protest against the government's plan to increase medical school quotas by 2,000, a red light was on at a traffic signal near a medical school in Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@
First, if the collective action by the medical community materializes and the health and medical disaster crisis alert is raised from the current 'caution' level to the 'severe' level, the city plans to extend the weekday consultation hours at municipal hospitals until 8 p.m., focusing on essential departments such as internal medicine and surgery. Additionally, four hospitals?Seoul Medical Center, Boramae Hospital, Dongbu Hospital, and Seonam Hospital?will maintain 24-hour emergency room operations to ensure uninterrupted emergency care.
Furthermore, Seoul plans to establish emergency medical response headquarters at health centers in all 25 autonomous districts to extend consultation hours until 8 p.m. on weekdays. If private practitioners also join the collective action, the city is considering extending consultation hours through the weekend.
Seoul will continuously monitor the consultation status of private medical institutions, including private practitioners and training hospitals, and actively respond to future collective actions by the medical community in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Kim Tae-hee, Director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Citizen Health Bureau, stated, "Seoul will continuously communicate with the medical community to request restraint from collective actions and will strictly respond by issuing work commencement orders to residents and private practitioners participating in the strike according to government guidelines, in close cooperation with the government."
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