Gyeonggi Province to Establish First Special Community Treatment Center This Week at Former Sihwa Hospital

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province is launching the first Gyeonggi-type special community treatment center at the former Sihwa Hospital building.

Firefighting personnel with nursing or paramedic licenses will be urgently deployed to care facilities in Ansan and Goyang, where medical staff support is critically needed.

Lim Seung-gwan, head of Gyeonggi Province's COVID-19 Emergency Response Task Force, held a regular press conference on the 22nd, stating, "As the grave reality continues with deaths occurring among those waiting at home even in the Seoul metropolitan area, special measures are necessary to protect residents' lives," and disclosed this accordingly.

The province plans to activate the first Gyeonggi-type special community treatment center, including critical care beds, by the end of this week at the former Sihwa Hospital building in Siheung City, which is currently closed.

The special community treatment center, which serves as a midway concept between a general community treatment center and an infectious disease-dedicated medical institution, differs from existing community treatment centers by being installed in a hospital building, allowing oxygen supply at patient beds.

As the facility will deploy several times more medical personnel compared to general community treatment centers, it will be able to provide basic medical services for life maintenance, such as IV fluid administration, similar to hospital care.

Mobile negative pressure units will be installed in each patient room within the building, ensuring the safety of medical personnel deployed in patient admission areas.

The province plans to receive emergency medical support from Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center and Gyeonggi Fire Department, and will establish a medical support team for the special community treatment center with cooperation from general hospitals across the province.

Director Lim stated, "While this program is not a fundamental solution to replace hospitals, we expect it to serve as an important tool in preventing health deterioration among families in emergency situations waiting at home," and urged, "If any medical professionals wish to participate, please contact the Gyeonggi Province Call Center at 031-120 anytime."

Additionally, the province will urgently dispatch firefighting personnel with nursing or paramedic licenses to areas or facilities requiring medical support, as seen in the recent case of Bucheon Hyoplus Care Hospital.

The province recruited among active firefighters and prospective firefighters in training who hold nursing or paramedic licenses, and initially secured approximately 40 personnel.

The recruited emergency medical support personnel will begin deployment starting from the 23rd at two facilities: 10 at Ansan Light Care Hospital and 10 at Goyang Misoachim Care Hospital, totaling 20 personnel, with sequential deployment thereafter.

As of 0:00 on the 22nd, Gyeonggi Province had 12,152 confirmed cases in total, an increase of 206 from the previous day, with confirmed cases occurring in all 25 cities and counties across the province.

For general patient treatment beds, 744 confirmed patient treatment beds are secured at a total of 10 hospitals, with the current bed occupancy rate at 655 beds or 88.0%.

For critical patient treatment beds, 48 out of 49 secured beds in the province are in use, with the current occupancy rate at 98.0%.

At seven community treatment centers, numbers 3 through 10 in Gyeonggi Province, 1,561 people were admitted as of 17:00 on the 21st, showing an occupancy rate of 57.3%, with remaining capacity for 1,123 people.

As of 22:00 on the 21st, the cumulative number of people monitored by Gyeonggi Province's home care system operations unit totaled 5,939 people. Among these, 382 people have been cumulatively transferred to hospitals through priority changes while monitoring the health status of those waiting.