Ahn Cheol-soo: "What good is an open emergency room without doctors... The healthcare system will collapse if this continues"

"Government Officials Should Spend Half a Day in the Emergency Room"
"Military Doctors on Site? Who Will Treat the Soldiers?"
"Government Must Act Responsibly Even Now"

On the 3rd, Ahn Cheol-soo, a member of the People Power Party, stated that emergency rooms are on the brink of collapse and said, "It is time for the government to act responsibly to prevent medical collapse and protect the lives of the people." Ahn advised, "Government officials should first spend at least half a day in an emergency room or at least ride in an ambulance immediately."

On the same day, through social media (SNS), Ahn introduced the situation faced by emergency rooms, saying, "No one believes the Ministry of Health and Welfare deputy minister's statement that 'there are some difficulties, but there is no situation to fear collapse.'"

He said, "(The government claims) that 99% of the 409 emergency rooms operate 24 hours a day, and due to the departure of residents, the level is at 73.4% compared to usual, so it is not an emergency room crisis situation," adding, "However, just because the emergency room doors are open and beds are available does not mean treatment is possible. There are no doctors to provide treatment."

As the medical gap prolongs, the number of large hospital emergency rooms ceasing operations is increasing. On the 2nd, an emergency medical center at a hospital in Seoul showed a quiet scene. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Ahn said, "As of August 1, among 57 university hospital emergency rooms, 14 cannot perform deliveries, and 24 cannot perform infant intestinal obstruction procedures. Is this normal?" He added, "According to the Korean Society of Emergency Medicine, a significant number of already exhausted emergency medical staff are holding resignation letters, and quite a few have already submitted them."

He continued, "Even if we get through the critical Chuseok holiday, it is uncertain how long emergency medical staff can endure," and said, "At this rate, emergency rooms and the medical system will inevitably collapse."

Regarding the government's plan to assign military doctors and public health doctors to emergency rooms, he said, "Removing military doctors, who share responsibility for national security, and public health doctors, who are in charge of regional medical care, is a typical stopgap measure that creates a new medical vacuum," adding, "Even if military doctors and public health doctors are brought in, they are not trained and therefore cannot treat critically ill patients."

Ahn criticized, "We must not respond so carelessly when it concerns the lives of the people," and said, "The government must stop distorting the situation with numbers and engaging in armchair theorizing that misleads the public."