Jeonnam Province, Stepwise Support for Regional Emergency Medical Centers Amid Prolonged Collective Action in Medical Sector

Jeonnam Province announced on the 8th that it will provide phased support to regional emergency medical centers such as Mokpo Hanguk Hospital and Suncheon Seonggarolo Hospital.

This measure comes in response to the expected increase in critically ill patients due to the reduction of emergency room functions at tertiary general hospitals amid prolonged collective action in the medical community.

Considering the unique situation in Jeonnam, which lacks tertiary general hospitals, the province anticipates a shortage of beds when more than 10% of the critically ill patients (270 per month) who used Chonnam National University Hospital and Chosun University Hospital in 2022 utilize the regional emergency medical centers that will replace the role of tertiary general hospitals.

Accordingly, the emergency levels have been divided into ▲Level 1 Interest (current) ▲Level 2 Caution (10% increase) ▲Level 3 Alert (25% increase) ▲Level 4 Serious (50% increase), and patient increase scenarios have been prepared along with a response system to minimize medical service gaps.

Based on patient monitoring results at the regional emergency medical centers, the province will apply the response system starting from the alert level. In the short term, some beds will be converted into intensive care unit beds to handle high-difficulty critically ill patients, and the province will support bed conversion costs (10 million KRW per bed).

In the long term, if there is a shortage of intensive care unit beds across the eastern and western regions due to a surge in critically ill patients, the province plans to identify medical institutions capable of expanding beds and support intensive care unit installation costs (100 million KRW per bed).

Additionally, from the alert level, experienced nursing staff from local medical centers will be temporarily dispatched to the regional emergency medical centers, and emergency room workers will receive medical encouragement allowances to improve working conditions for medical personnel.

Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeonnam Province, stated, “We will take all possible measures to ensure that residents do not face difficulties in receiving medical treatment despite the reduction of services at tertiary general hospitals,” and added, “We are grateful to the medical staff who have been working in emergency medical readiness for over two months to protect the health rights of our residents.”

Recently, Jeonnam Province used disaster management funds to support two regional emergency medical centers by providing 300 million KRW each for the installation of centralized patient monitoring devices to increase the turnover rate of intensive care units.