Gyeonggi Province to Announce 'Infectious Disease Control Plan' Next Month

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 29th that it plans to unveil an 'Infectious Disease Control Plan' early next month to prevent a second MERS crisis.

The province will establish the Gyeonggi Provincial Infectious Disease Management Headquarters as a control tower and strengthen networks with private medical institutions.

The infectious disease control plan will include strengthening public-private networks and the role of Suwon Hospital's intensive treatment center, expanding epidemiological investigators, and improving information systems.

Gyeonggi Medical Center, a public medical institution, will be designated as the core medical facility for infectious disease response, and a '1+4+10 system' will be established with four major hospitals in the province serving as regional centers and 10 university hospital-level facilities as outpatient hub hospitals.

Private epidemiological investigators will be stationed by region, and infectious disease specialists will also be recruited at health centers in each city and county.

Additionally, the province plans to establish a surveillance system from disease prevention through each stage of disease occurrence and outbreak, and deliver relevant information to residents from the outbreak stage.

Governor Nam Kyung-pul said, "It is true that the government was inexperienced in the initial response to MERS," and added, "We will make efforts to respond to infectious diseases regardless of partisan considerations so as not to repeat the same mistakes."