Pediatric emergency rooms are closing across Korea

Social Affairs

Published: 24 Oct. 2022, 18:49 Updated: 24 Oct. 2022, 18:51

Pediatric emergency rooms are closing across Korea

This photo, provided by a reader, shows a panel installed in front of the Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital saying emergency treatment for children has been halted since Sept. 1. [JOONGANG ILBO]

A growing number of pediatric emergency rooms are closing due to a shortage of manpower.

Recently, Ms. Lee, a 37-year-old housewife living in Mok-dong in Yangcheon District, western Seoul, found herself in a medical emergency. Her 6-year-old child suffered from high fever and diarrhea in the middle of the night. But instead of going the short distance to Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, she had to travel 30 minutes to the emergency room at Severance Hospital in Seodaemun District.

“I was frustrated as I had to travel far in search of a hospital that could accept my child despite having a big hospital right in front of my house,” Lee said.

In an online community for moms on Naver with over 3 million members, one user, who claimed to be a mother living in Gangseo District in western Seoul, wrote in detail about knocking on doors of several nearby hospitals looking for help for her sick child.

The mother claimed she visited three university hospitals for over two hours from 5:40 a.m., but the child was denied treatment. She tried calling four other hospitals, also to no avail.

“The hospitals didn’t even try to listen to what was wrong, and just said there was no room,” the mother wrote in a post on Sept. 21.

“It gave me the creeps to think about what it would have been like if my child’s condition was more serious,” she wrote. “What's the point of the government giving money to encourage people have children?”

According to data released by the Korean Pediatric Society on Sunday, only 36 percent of teaching hospitals nationwide, 29 out of 80, or hospitals that provide medical education and training to future and current health professionals have a pediatric intensive care unit staffed 24 hours a day as of September. In Seoul, only 34.6 percent (nine out of 26) hospitals had intensive care treatment available for children at night or on holidays.

In other words, children who show up in emergency rooms are likely to not get the treatment they need at their local hospital and will need to be transferred elsewhere.

Pediatric emergency rooms are closing across the nation.

Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital halted emergency treatment for pediatric patients except for the injured from Sept. 1. If a child shows up in the emergency room, they will be turned over to outpatient treatment during the day or be transferred to another hospital at night or on holidays.

“We had a pediatric specialist stationed at the center 24/7, but after the specialist left the hospital, hiring new manpower is almost impossible,” a spokesperson for the hospital said.

Pediatric specialists are stationed in the emergency room until midnight at Chung-Ang University Hospital and 5:30 p.m. at Hanyang University Medical Center. After that, emergency pediatric patients are not likely to be able to get treatment.

Young doctors are avoiding pediatrics because they think pediatric care is harder than taking care of adults. Dealing with parents is a big frustration.

Gangnam Severance Hospital joined the trend starting Monday. Emergency treatment for pediatric patients under the age of 16 is now only available from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Recently, the only first-year medical resident quit, forcing the hospital to stop emergency treatment for children at night.

Professor Chae Hyeon-wook of the pediatrics department at Gangnam Severance said the decision was “heartbreaking.”

"After hanging in for as long as we could, it became too hard,” Chae said. “The crisis in the pediatric treatment system is becoming a reality."

Experts say that the decrease in Korea's birthrate coupled with a sharp drop in the number of child patients during the Covid-19 pandemic was a decisive factor.

“Given the low birth rate, children are becoming more and more precious, yet the social safety measures to protect them are disappearing,” Chae said. “The right to health, which is one of the basic rights of children, is being threatened."

The Korean Pediatric Society called for emergency measures such as financial support from the government to hire specialists dedicated to pediatric emergency rooms and neonatal and pediatric intensive care units, as well as raising pediatric inpatient costs.

BY RHEE ESTHER, HWANG SU-YEON, SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]