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From 284 cities, counties and districts in Korea, 108 do not even have a single doctor trained in emergency-room procedures. These include 14 local government units in Gangwon Province, 17 in Gyeonggi Province, 12 in North Gyeongsang Province and 11 each in South Gyeongsang and South Jeolla provinces.
In Gangwon Province, if patients require emergency care in Goseong, Sokcho, Yangyang, Donghae or Samcheok, they must travel all the way to Gangneung for treatment. Similarly, if patients require emergency care in Inje, Hongcheon or Hwacheon, they must voyage to Chuncheon for treatment.
Hospital doctors trained in emergency room procedures treat people suffering from minor injuries or ailments, while referring badly injured or hard-to-diagnose people to other physicians. From Korea¡¯s total population of 48 million, only around 500 doctors are trained in emergency procedures.
Often, patients¡¯ lives can hinge on receiving the correct primary diagnosis and treatment from emergency room doctors. In Korea, it takes an average of 74 minutes for a heart attack victim to reach an emergency room and receive treatment. The optimum time is 30 minutes, and delays can trigger adverse side effects, such as aphasia or paralysis.
According to statistics gathered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last year, the mortality rate for Korean heart attack victims following 30 days of hospitalization was 18.6 percent -- second highest after Mexico (24.5 percent). Stroke victims have a maximum three-hour time frame to clear blocked blood vessels, which takes an average of five hours in Korea. In the 108 local government units lacking a single emergency room doctor, patients are dying unnecessarily, while others suffer debilitating side effects.
Hospitals with emergency rooms, trauma treatment facilities and emergency room doctors are basic safety nets in any society. All Koreans should have access to these life-saving facilities within 30 minutes or less.
In Korean hospitals, it¡¯s common to see heart attack or car accident victims lingering alone in the hallways. Studies show that Korean emergency room doctors walk an average of 30,000 steps each day and work 80 hours a week. They have become shunned professions. Korean hospitals and clinics should at least create a system of pooling emergency room doctors, perhaps including physicians at military hospitals. The government should surely take charge of matters of life and death.
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