By Chung Hyun-chae
The government’s lack of leadership and the nation’s lax quarantine system caused the outbreak of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) last year, according to a report on MERS released by the health ministry, Friday.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare published a white paper on MERS to evaluate how the government responded to the outbreak and suggested how to deal with new epidemics.
The publication comes one year after the government declared the end to the epidemic in July 2015.
It contains an assessment and proposals based on surveys conducted on 245 government officials and 46 civilian experts.
The experts called for the government to increase manpower in public health and to reform the current medical system which is vulnerable to infectious diseases.
The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs took the lead in making the report to ensure objectivity.
“We expect the white paper to be used not only to improve the initial response to new infectious diseases but also to overhaul the nation’s anti-contagious disease system,” a ministry official said.
The white paper is comprised of two parts. The first part deals with the characteristics of MERS, international trends, response process, an evaluation of the government’s response and lessons from the MERS outbreak. The second part is a supplement that helps readers understand the first part easily.
The full text of the white paper is available at www.mohw.go.kr, www.cdc.go.kr, and www.mers.go.kr.
Meanwhile, the health ministry presented 39 individuals and one institution with awards on the same day for their efforts to prevent the spread of MERS last year.
Most of them are medical staff at the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, central Seoul.