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| Employees of Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital hold pickets to urge the hospital to retract its decision to shut down in front of the hospital in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap |
By Jun Ji-hye
The decision to shut down Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital is raising concerns over a possible medical service vacuum in central Seoul, as the 82-year-old facility, the only general hospital in Seoul's Jung District, has also played a significant role as a medical institute dedicated to infectious diseases.
On Tuesday, the hospital's board of directors finalized the decision on the closure of the hospital due to mounting losses.
The hospital, located near Myeongdong Cathedral, has accumulated a deficit of 174.5 billion won ($135 million) over the last two decades despite its desperate efforts to normalize its business, according to hospital officials.
They say the hospital will support the transfer of patients currently hospitalized there and the reemployment of its nearly 400 employees at affiliated hospitals, including one in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
If due procedures are carried out as planned, the hospital is expected to be closed at the end of August.
After the decision was finalized, medical staff and a union as well as the Seoul Metropolitan Government expressed concerns that the closure will create a medical services vacuum in the city center and pose a threat to people's lives.
The hospital has been fulfilling its duty as the only general hospital in the district, dealing with emergency cases in the area.
Its shutdown could force emergency patients to be transferred to other hospitals, such as Seoul National University Hospital, disrupting operations of their already-crowded emergency rooms.
Concerns are also centered on the possible outbreak of a serious infectious disease in the future, as Paik Hospital was dedicated to treating COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, providing domiciliary treatment for nearly 80 percent of the virus patients in the district.
"The shutdown decision should not be made due simply to financial reasons," a group of professors working at the hospital said in a statement. "We request the hospital to draw up recovery measures and have a dialogue with its employees."
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| Professor Cho Young-kyu of Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital holds a press conference at the hospital in downtown Seoul, June 12, to urge the hospital not to shut down. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho |
The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union also said, "The hospital's shutdown will lead to a vacuum in critical medical fields in central Seoul, considering that it operates a large-scale emergency center as an institute dedicated for infectious diseases."
The Seoul Metropolitan Government, which opposes the hospital's closure, said it was considering designating the hospital site as a general medical facility in a bid to prevent the possible vacuum in medical services.
This is expected to cause a conflict with the hospital operators, who seek to change the purpose of the site and build a commercial facility after the shutdown.
"We will keenly cooperate with the hospital and Jung District Office to carry out an in-depth discussion regarding the issue at the earliest possible date," an official from the city government said.
The official added the city government was also considering rezoning four other general hospitals in the capital area, including Seoul National University Hospital and Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, to be used for medical purposes only in order to prevent further loss of medical services in the area.
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