Gyeonggi Province Launches Emergency Medical Care Measures Including Extended Hours at Public Medical Institutions

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Kim Gap-dong] Following the government's upgrade of the healthcare disaster crisis alert from cautionary to severe level in response to doctors' collective action, Gyeonggi Province is escalating the existing emergency medical response headquarters to a provincial disaster safety response headquarters with the provincial governor as its head, starting from the 23rd.

The Gyeonggi Province Disaster Safety Response Headquarters is headed by Governor Kim Dong-yeon, with the Vice Governor (Deputy Director), Director of Safety Management (Overall Coordinator), and Director of Health and Wellness (Control Officer) forming the command structure. It consists of seven practical divisions: Situation Management Division, Recovery and Restoration Division, Emergency Transport Support Division, Inspection Support Division, Public Communication Division, External Cooperation Division, and Disaster Recovery and Public Relations Division.

The main roles are implementation and support of emergency medical care measures, support for transport coordination systems, support from related agencies, and public communication and guidance.

With the declaration of the severe alert level, Gyeonggi Province is launching full-scale emergency medical care measures. First, 73 emergency medical institutions and 21 emergency medical facilities across the province will maintain 24-hour emergency medical care systems. Ajou University Hospital and Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, which are regional trauma centers for Gyeonggi Province, will also maintain 24-hour trauma care systems for severe patients.

Six hospitals operated by Gyeonggi Province Medical Institute will extend their operating hours until 8 p.m. on weekdays, and will gradually implement weekend and holiday medical care services. Operating hours at health centers in 31 cities and counties will also be expanded.

The province plans to establish emergency contact networks with city and county health centers, fire departments, emergency medical institutions, and police, and will work on dispersing emergency patients by grasping the status of emergency medical institutions. Additionally, the province will actively guide the public on emergency medical institutions and weekend/holiday medical care facilities through its homepage (gg.go.kr) and call center (031-120).

With the launch of the Disaster Safety Response Headquarters, the province held a response meeting on doctors' collective action on the morning of the 23rd, presided over by Vice Governor Oh Byeong-kwon with sub-heads of 31 cities and counties, and examined the status of emergency medical care systems.

Vice Governor Oh stated, "Please mobilize all capabilities to ensure there are no medical voids by operating emergency medical care systems in each city and county and expanding health center operating hours," and added, "Dispersed transport of emergency patients is crucial to prevent concentration at large hospitals. Using the homepage and call center, we must actively guide residents to emergency medical institutions, public health institutions, and weekend/holiday medical care facilities to minimize inconvenience to the public."

Vice Governor Oh plans to hold the 3rd Gyeonggi Province Emergency Medical Council meeting at 1 p.m. that day, attended by the Gyeonggi Province Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters director, health center directors from 31 cities and counties, and center directors from 73 emergency medical institutions including Ajou University Hospital, to examine response status. Additionally, at 3 p.m., he plans to visit Busan Soonchunhyang University Hospital to examine the emergency room situation.

According to Gyeonggi Province's count as of the 22nd, 1,568 resident physicians from 33 out of 40 specialty training hospitals across the province have submitted resignations. This represents 67.6% of the province's total 2,321 resident physicians.

Prior to the government's crisis alert upgrade, Gyeonggi Province preemptively responded by self-upgrading the emergency medical care situation room under the Director of Health and Wellness to an emergency medical response headquarters headed by the Vice Governor on the 21st.