Gov't's secretive policy creates confusion
By Lee Kyung-min
Subway passengers wear masks at Sindorim Station in Seoul, Wednesday, out of fear of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) infection. / Yonhap
The government’s secretive policy over the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) appears to be backfiring, creating confusion among agencies and stoking fears among people.
While the Ministry of Health and Welfare refused to make the list of affected hospitals public to prevent unnecessary panic and possible damage to the facilities, another state-run agency and a hospital revealed the list, which then spread quickly on social networking services.
On Tuesday, KORAIL, a state-run railroad operator under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation, put up a poster at Osong Station in South Chungcheong Province with the names of 11 hospitals where MERS patients were being treated.
Titled “MERS Prevention Measure,” the poster stressed the importance of personal hygiene such as washing hands and wearing masks during outdoor activities.
But it also urged people to refrain from visiting places where MERS patients were reported and treated, showing the names of 11 hospitals in Seoul, and Gyeonggi and South Chungcheong provinces.
As controversy emerged over the poster, Korail removed it hours later. It said the name disclosure was not Korail’s or the transport ministry’s policy, but a mistake made by an official at the station.
On the same day, a hospital in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, also posted a notice in its emergency room which read: “Have you visited the Middle East, these regions or these hospitals in Korea within the last two weeks?” And it disclosed the regions where a large number of cases were confirmed and the names of seven hospitals.
The notice was photographed by visitors and has since gone viral. The hospital said the notice was designed for fast diagnosis for people visiting the emergency room with suspected MERS symptoms.
Following the disclosure, one of the seven hospitals ― a general hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, said that it would file a damage suit against the Chuncheon hospital.
“The number of outpatients decreased by 20 percent, and patients are abruptly cancelling scheduled surgery, citing the notice,” an official from the Bucheon hospital said.
The hospital said a suspected MERS patient was treated there but later tested negative.
“We are considering filing a defamation suit because we suffered damage from false information,” he said.
The Korea Health & Medical Workers’ Unions said that the government should reveal the name of the hospitals to relieve growing public fear.
“Unfounded rumors and speculations rise because the government refuses to provide the information the public wants and deserves,” it said in the statement.
However, an official from the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases called for more cautious approach.
“If the names are revealed, many hospitals that are currently treating the patients will suffer substantial damage because no one would want to go there. Also, hospitals may refuse to take the patients altogether for fear of such possible damage. This could only worsen the situation,” he said.
In the meantime, a number of lawsuits against the government by MERS patients may follow as well, because health authorities have failed to take due measures to confirm suspected cases in their initial stages.
Patients, families of the dead patients and medical staff may seek damage for government negligence in controlling the situation.
According to the law, the government should compensate those who suffered financial or mental damage due to public officials’ intentional or accidental improper acts while on duty.
Legal experts say confirmed patients may be able to seek compensation if it is proven that health authorities failed to conduct timely checkups or examinations and thus their condition deteriorated and they spread the disease to others.