This undated photo, provided by the defense ministry, shows the Armed Forces Trauma Center in Seongnam, south of Seoul.
SEOUL, April 20 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea opened its first military trauma center in a city just south of Seoul on Wednesday to provide specialized treatment to soldiers with gunshot wounds and other serious injuries, the defense ministry said.
Defense Minister Suh Wook and other officials from related government and medical agencies attended the ceremony marking the formal opening of the Armed Forces Trauma Center in Seongnam. Kim Nam-ryeol, head of the Korean Society of Acute Care Surgery, leads the center.
The construction of the facility — with two major operating rooms and 20 single-person intensive-care rooms — was completed in March 2020. But it had been used as a state-designated coronavirus treatment center until Monday.
“I hope that the military center responsible for the entire process of treatment for wounded patients will protect not only our service members but also the lives and health of our citizens,” President Moon Jae-in said in a written congratulatory message.
The center plans to first focus on treating soldiers and to gradually expand its services to cover patients from outside the military, including police, firefighters and others in need of urgent treatment, the ministry said.
It plans to employ cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial-intelligence and big data for analyzing medical images, and remote medical service for monitoring patients on their way to the hospital, the ministry said.
(Yonhap)
