Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Gov't hit for belated move to charge foreign COVID-19 patients from abroad
Health Minister Park Neung-hoo speaks during a meeting of the central disaster and safety countermeasures headquarters at the government complex in Sejong, Monday, to discuss measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The government has been drawing criticism for its belated move to charge incoming foreign COVID-19 patients amid soaring number of new infections have been detected among them over the last six weeks.
On Sunday, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters decided to revise the current law that mandates the government cover treatment and in-hospital care costs for non-residents testing positive for the virus on arrival or during their two-week quarantine period, regardless of their nationality.
As critics pointed out that the surge in incoming patients has put pressure on the nation's medical system, the government made the decision to stop paying medical expenses for the non-citizen patients. But the critics said the move is long overdue.
Regarding the capacity of the medical system in response to the pandemic, the medical community has been appealing for months to prevent travelers from abroad from intentionally entering the country to benefit from free medical treatment.
“It is unfair for Koreans to cover the medical expenses for non-Koreans (who decide to come here only for free COVID-19 treatment), who would otherwise never come here,” said Kim Yoon, a professor at Seoul National University of Medicine.
“There were some foreign nationals from abroad who said they came to Korea only to receive treatment,” Peck Kyong-ran, chairman of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases, wrote on Facebook in March. “But we don't have enough space to treat them in this prolonged virus situation.”
In the meantime, the number of patients arriving from abroad has increased significantly, and there have been cases of secondary infections spreading into the community from them. The decision came as new virus cases surged Friday to an almost four-month high of 113, of which 86 were reported from overseas.
Staff check foreign nationals arriving at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
During a press briefing Sunday, Park said the health ministry will be in charge of revising regulations to stop covering costs for incoming foreign patients who know they are infected with the virus yet travel to Korea and those who end up confirmed during their two-week mandatory quarantine period.
The ministry said it will review expanding the scope of charges on incoming patients depending on the pandemic situation, while taking into consideration the principle of reciprocity in diplomatic relations.
However, Park said the government plans to charge coronavirus-infected inbound travelers for hospitalization and medical costs but not testing. He stressed that virus tests will remain free for all nationalities. Also, the government will still cover the costs for foreign residents who are infected domestically.
Although the country's new coronavirus cases fell under 30 again, Sunday, as imported cases declined from the record high the previous day, the health authorities remain cautious over another wave of cases coming in from overseas.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Monday that the country added 25 new cases Sunday, taking the nation's total caseload to 14,175. The tally marked a significant fall from 58 new cases detected the previous day, and last Friday's four-month high of 113.
Of the newly reported cases, nine were local infections, the KCDC said. Six cases were reported in Seoul, followed by two in Gyeonggi Province and one in the southeastern city of Busan.