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Seoul Paik Hospital closes down after 82 years
Medical staff and other employees of Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital shed tears at the building's entrance, Thursday, as the hospital closed its doors permanently. Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Legal battle still ongoing as employees seek to suspend shutdown decision
By Jun Ji-hye
Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital ended all work activities including the operation of its emergency room and wards, as it closed its doors permanently on Thursday due to mounting losses.
The closure put an end to the hospital's 82-year history, which began after the late Paik In-je, a pioneer of modern Korean medicine, founded the Paik Inje Surgical Clinic in 1941, which later became the current hospital.
However, the closure has caused ongoing internal conflicts around a group of professors working at the hospital and teaching at Inje University who have resisted the Inje Educational Foundation's decision to shut down the facility.
“We cannot accept the shutdown,” the professors said in their statement. “Those involved in illegal and unfair activities during the decision-making process should all be punished.”
They claimed that the shutdown decision violates both the Private School Act and the corporation's bylaws as professors and students were not consulted before the board of directors finalized the decision.
Workers move boxes out of Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital, Thursday, as the hospital closed its doors permanently. Yonhap
According to the foundation, the hospital, located near Myeong-dong Cathedral, has accumulated a deficit of 174.5 billion won ($132 million) over the last two decades.
The foundation has operated the task force since 2016 to normalize the hospital's business, investing 3 to 5 billion won every year to reduce the number of beds and personnel expenses and to refurbish the aging facility, but to no avail.
This promoted the board of directors to finalize the decision on the closure of the hospital on June 20.
At the time, the foundation said it would review a variety of options, including constructing a new hospital, operating a future data center, venturing into a profit-making business or selling the building.
The hospital has since supported the transfer of its patients and trainee doctors to its affiliated hospitals or other institutes, while supporting the reemployment of its nearly 300 employees, which excludes professors, by the affiliated hospitals.
There are four other Paik Hospitals affiliated with Inje University ― Sanggye Paik Hospital, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Busan Paik Hospital and Haeundae Paik Hospital.
Conflicts, however, have intensified amid internal resistance, with 24 professors and 240 employees having filed for an injunction on Aug. 5, asking a court to suspend the shutdown of the hospital.
In addition, a group of professors at Inje University submitted a petition to the Ministry of Education, Monday, claiming that the foundation “has exaggerated the hospital's losses to make it look like the shutdown was inevitable.”
They asked the ministry to inspect the foundation.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has also voiced its opposition to the hospital's closure, saying it was considering designating the hospital site as a general medical facility to limit the use of the site only for a medical facility.
This reflects the city government's concerns over the possible vacuum in medical services in the region, as the hospital was the only general hospital in Seoul's Jung District of 120,000 residents, and has played a significant role as a medical institute specializing in infectious diseases over the past eight decades.
The hospital said, despite its closure, it will continue to work on issuing copies of patients' medical records, including image materials, until next February to minimize inconvenience.