Concerns about emergency room overload are growing ahead of the Chuseok holiday. In this photo, an ambulance waits near the emergency medical centre of a major hospital in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) – In a harrowing incident that has sparked outrage and raised questions about South Korea’s emergency medical system, a 2-year-old girl fell into a coma after being denied treatment by 11 hospitals in the western Seoul metropolitan area.
The child, who was suffering from a febrile seizure, a condition common in young children with high fevers, was left in critical condition due to what appears to be a severe shortage of pediatric care.
The incident, which occurred on August 3 but has only recently come to light, began when the toddler’s mother called emergency services at 8:40 p.m. after her daughter developed a high fever and began convulsing.
Paramedics arrived at the family’s home within 10 minutes, but what should have been a routine emergency quickly turned into a nightmare.
According to reports from KBS and fire department officials, the ambulance crew found themselves in an unprecedented situation. As they attempted to transport the child to a hospital, they were repeatedly turned away.
One by one, 11 hospitals across Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, and Incheon cited a lack of pediatric specialists as the reason for refusing to admit the critically ill toddler.
Medical staff are busier in the emergency room of a university hospital in Daegu, South Korea, on Feb. 29, the day the government set a deadline for resident doctors to return. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
Even the nearest university hospital, typically equipped to handle complex cases, denied the child admission. As precious minutes ticked by, the young patient’s condition deteriorated inside the ambulance.
It wasn’t until the 12th attempt, nearly an hour after the initial emergency call, that a hospital finally agreed to provide urgent care.
By then, however, the damage had been done. Although the seizures eventually subsided, the prolonged episode had resulted in severe brain damage. The child has remained unconscious for a month since the incident.
In a particularly troubling revelation, it emerged that one of the hospitals that turned the ambulance away actually had a pediatric emergency room and pediatricians on duty. However, they refused treatment, citing the absence of a pediatric neurologist.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
