[Editorial] No more deaths while transporting patients

A teenager in Daegu died as he could not receive emergency care on time. The teenager fell from a four-story building and was seriously injured in the head and ankle. The 119 ambulance roamed around for two hours but could not find any hospital to admit the patient. The case underscores the poor state of the emergency care system in Korea.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare has been devising a policy to establish an emergency medical center that could be reached within an hour anywhere in the country. Kyungpook National University Hospital is the central ER base in Daegu. But the hospital turned away the patient because it lacked beds. Although two beds were empty, the hospital said they were reserved for other emergency patients.

The paramedics reached out to six other hospitals, but they all cited a lack of beds or doctors who could perform the surgery. Daegu is a major city, so the situation is worse in smaller cities or rural areas.

The ER at Sokcho Medical Center in Gangwon is open 24 hours for just four days and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the other three days, starting this month. The hospital inevitably had to cut hours because it could not find ER doctors despite offering generous pay. It continues with recruiting them even by removing the restriction to the emergency department.

The lack of beds and staff at ERs has been a long-standing issue. But the problem has not gotten any better. According to the National Fire Agency, emergency patients had to return home in as many as 7,600 cases in 2021 because the rescue squad could not place them to a hospital. 17.1 percent of them were not able to receive emergency care due to a shortage of beds. According to the Health and Welfare Ministry, only half of the emergency patients arrived at hospitals on time.

There is a need to restrict lighter patients’ access to ERs to ease the congestion in ERs and raise access to emergency care. Emergency patients should not be neglected because patients with lighter illnesses occupy hospital beds.

The government plans to change the ER guidelines toward such directions. The fourth basic outline on emergency treatment announced on March 21 aims not to miss the golden time to save lives. But actions must follow fast. The government and medical community must supplement the weak spots in our emergency care system so that people’s lives are not cut short due to delayed care.