< anchor>
A series of reports that look at
our emergency medical system and look for alternatives. Today (16th), we will tell you about the reality that child emergency patients are not being treated in time. Not long ago, during the Children's Day holiday, a 5-year-old child passed away. I had a fever and a bad cough, so I took an ambulance to the hospital, but the answer I got back was that there was no room right away, I couldn't be admitted, I could only get medical treatment.

First up is reporter Kim Min-jun.

<Reporter Kim Min-jun>

On the night of the 6th, an alley in Seoul's military district.

A mother hugs her child and runs to the ambulance.

Suddenly, I had a fever and shortness of breath.

[Mom: 40 degrees. My fever is not going down well and my child has a cough that hurts....]

My 5-year-old was no exception to the "emergency room hit-and-run."

I headed to the nearest university hospital, but there were no empty beds.

[Dad: (The paramedic) went into the emergency room and (talked) to the person in charge, and he said he had to wait for a long time for 5 hours....]



Four of them, including the first university hospital, said they had no beds or could not provide medical care.

The fifth hospital that went with the condition that "I will only receive medical treatment without hospitalization."

I was diagnosed with 'acute obstructive laryngitis' and was treated and returned home early the next morning.

However, he continued to struggle to breathe and droop, so I called the emergency room I had gone to the day before, but I was told that I would not be admitted again.

[Mom: I had laryngitis yesterday and went to emergency care.]

[Hospital: If you have laryngitis, you may need to be hospitalized.

As he was getting ready to go to the emergency room for medical treatment, he suddenly collapsed in the bathroom.

[Mom: 'Mom, I can't take a break,' and then suddenly she sat down. I said, 'Mom, why is my voice like this?' and it just took me less than a second. I took an
ambulance to the nearest emergency room, but he died about 40 minutes after arriving.


[Dad: Such a ridiculous thing happens in the middle of Seoul, South Korea.
(Video Interview: Kim Nam Nam, Video Editing: Lee Seung-seung)

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< anchor>

Just like the story of the child's father, we took a closer look at how this could happen in the middle of Seoul, South Korea.


Medical reporter Cho Dong-chan interviewed the situation in the children's emergency room on Saturday night, the 6th, when a sick child had to go to various hospitals in an ambulance.

Reporter < Cho Dong-chan>
said they could not accept
emergency patients for children, and that night I asked the four university hospitals why.

Hospital A, which has the largest pediatric emergency bed in the country, had a large number of waiting patients, Hospitals B and C, which do not have a pediatric emergency room, had no beds for adult patients, and Hospital D did not treat pediatric emergency patients at night.

The fifth hospital, which saw a patient but was unable to be admitted, says that the pediatric professor on duty treated him normally.

[Hospital official: We confirmed that there was no problem with the X-ray abnormality. Respiratory nebulization treatment was also performed immediately. After confirming that it was stable, we prescribed medication and discharged from the hospital....]

He said that it was a mistake of the staff to say that he could not be admitted.

[Hospital staff: The week before, there was a situation where we had to stop for a while because it was so difficult, and when we came back, the information center staff who didn't know exactly what was happening was mistaken....]

The number of pediatric doctors has recently decreased from 12 to three, and the 24-hour pediatric emergency department is running in that state, so there are times when medical staff are burned out and have to shut down.

Since it is difficult to find a pediatric emergency bed, there is a principle of 119 emergency room transfer, but we are looking for a local pediatric hospital that is open as soon as possible.

[Paramedic: Originally, I was supposed to be transported to the emergency room, but now I'm trying to figure out where the pediatric care is just going to be done, so I'm going to do a little bit of this.]

With fewer and fewer pediatric doctors available, child emergency patients have nowhere else to go.

(Video Interview: Cheil, Video Editing: Lee So-young, CG: Son Seung-pil)


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< anchor>
Let's talk more about
this with medical reporter Cho Dong-chan.

Q. The government has come up with a plan, but why is it not resolved?

[Cho Dong-chan, medical reporter: The government's plan is to create more public medical centers for children and increase the number of hospitals that treat children at night and on holidays, but why is this not working? Let's take a look at the four university hospitals related to the children who died. There are 0 pediatric doctors in Hospital B, 3 in Hospital C and D, 2 in the 4th year and 1 in the 1st year. E Hospital has only 4 students in its 4th year. With this number, it is impossible to create a 24-hour, 365-day-a-year on-call schedule. This year, there were 159 seats for pediatrics, and 32 applied, and 38 out of 50 university hospitals There were no applicants. The problem is that there is a shortage of medical staff, and measures to increase the number of hospitals are not working.]

Q. What is the solution to the "emergency room hit-and-run" for child patients?

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter (Specialist): We can think of a way to gather the pediatric medical staff scattered from one hospital to another, but this is also not simple. Hospital A, the largest in Korea, has 62 pediatric specialists and 28 doctors, but even if a child arrives in need of CPR due to the influx of patients, they have to wait for more than three hours. In the second half of the year, it seems that there needs to be an unconventional inducement for pediatric doctors to apply in large quantities or for pediatricians outside the university hospital to return.]

Q. Why is the shortage of pediatricians more important?

[Cho Dong-chan/Medical Reporter: I asked the pediatrician who quit last weekend why. However, he said that he knew from the beginning that he was not making more money than other doctors, but he did not expect it to be so scary. Some children get worse when they see patients, and they say that it was difficult for them to endure the threats posed by them personally or legally. In a survey conducted by a major, this was the No. 1 reason for avoiding pediatrics. In order to save children's lives, especially in efforts to turn the emergency room into an emergency room, it seems that the reasons for avoiding pediatrics should be carefully examined.]