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Corona 19 Extension (CG)▶ Click here to enlarge the view
In Seoul, the number of patients waiting at home without receiving treatment is increasing rapidly as the shortage of beds increases due to the explosion of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19).
In particular, among people aged 60 years and over, there are cases where they cannot go to treatment facilities for several days after confirmation.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said in an online briefing on the 18th that there were 580 patients in Seoul waiting at home even after being confirmed at 0 o’clock that day.
Among them, 353 were confirmed on the same day and 227 were more than one day after confirmation.
The day before, the number of new confirmed cases in Seoul was 398.
Currently, the number of patients waiting to be admitted to treatment facilities exceeds the number of new confirmed patients per day.
Park Yoo-mi, Seoul’s quarantine control officer, explained, “It usually takes about a day to be hospitalized after being confirmed, so the number of people waiting for bed allocation for more than one day is actually 227 “.
Citizen anxiety is increasing, especially among elderly patients or patients with underlying diseases, since there are cases of waiting for hospitalization for so long.
According to Seocho-gu, a 65-year-old couple, each confirmed on the 15th and 16th, waits at home for three or four days.
In particular, among these couples, the husband has an underlying illness and has Corona 19 symptoms, so the local public health center has requested bed allocations through Seoul City ten times to this day, but still no answer, said Seocho-gu.
In the case of confirmed elderly patients with underlying diseases, the condition can deteriorate rapidly, so treatment must be carried out more quickly, but due to the recent explosion of confirmed cases, hospital transfers are not made on time due to shortages of beds.
Medical personnel transferring COVID-19 (CG) patients▶ Click here to enlarge the view
In fact, on the 12th, a patient in his 60s in Dongdaemun-gu, confirmed on the 12th, died on the 15th while waiting to be hospitalized at home for the fourth day (the 122nd death in Seoul).
In particular, it was reported that the bed was not assigned despite two urgent requests being made by the local public health center. In this regard, Park explained that “as the number of confirmed patients increases, the priority of the allocation of beds is determined taking into account the severity of fever and respiratory symptoms, but the deceased was initially in a waiting state because only I had a sore throat. “
“In the case of the 122 deaths, although they recognized that their symptoms had worsened, there were parties that could not respond urgently in the integrated situation room in the metropolitan area.” I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again. “
As a countermeasure, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to send 12 workers to the integrated control room in the metropolitan area operated with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon City. Two officials from the publication dedicated to related work will be added immediately.
Furthermore, it was decided to check whether confirmed patients waiting at home are properly monitored at the local health center twice a day.
However, while the number of confirmed patients is increasing rapidly, the fundamental problem, such as the lack of expansion of beds, is not resolved and the emergency situation is expected to continue for the time being.
The day before, the utilization rate for hospital beds dedicated to infectious diseases was 77% in the metropolitan area and 82.7% in Seoul. Only one of the 86 treatment beds for seriously ill patients remains in Seoul.
Out of a total of 2,179 beds in 10 life treatment centers in Seoul, 1,334 are in use and only 451 are immediately available.
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