Partial shutdown at Samsung Seoul Hospital to be lifted on Monday

Samsung Seoul Hospital, which has been partially shut down since June 13 due to MERS infection and sloppy case management, will likely reopen at 12 a.m. on Monday

The central MERS taskforce under the Health and Welfare Ministry said on Friday, “Since the infection of the last MERS patient, no more new patient has emerged as of now,” adding, “If no additional infection occurs until Sunday, when the longest possible incubation period (14 days) among the medical staff who contacted a patient will pass, the hospital will be released from a hospital subject to intensive management. If shutdown is lifted from Samsung Seoul Hospital, all hospitals under intensive management (15 hospitals) will be released from the measure.

No additional confirmed case of MERS and death was occurring as of Friday. The number of patients currently under treatment is 16, and 12 of them were diagnosed as negative in MERS virus testing more than twice, and moved to ordinary hospital beds.

Meanwhile, the Korea Hospital Association held a press meeting Friday morning, and announced, “The aggregate value of damage general hospital-level medical institutions suffered amounts to an estimated 549.6 billion won (479 million dollars).” The tally has been compiled as a result of a survey on aggregate damage that incurred from May 20, the day when the first patient was reported, to July 4. The survey was conducted by the association among 41 hospitals that suffered damage due to emergences of MERS patients and patient visits, and 44 organizations that were designated as hospitals for managing infectious diseases, including hospitals that treated MERS patients, and hospitals designated by the state for patient isolation. Damage suffered by clinics was excluded from the tally, because it is impossible to estimate.

smiley@donga.com