A hospital in Ulsan specializing in obstetrics and gynecology allegedly allowed nursing assistants to perform cesarean sections and incontinence operations more than 710 times, the police said Thursday.The Ulsan Regional Police Agency sent 22 people – eight physicians, including the head of the hospital, eight nurses, and six assistant nurses – to the prosecutor’s office, recommending indictme
Korea’s medical community urged the government to prepare measures to fix the quarantine failure at the international airport, which led to the first confirmed case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in three years.Choi Dae-zip, president of the Korean Medical Association (KMA), told a news conference that the patient’s direct visit to Samsung Medical Center from the airport an
North Korean defectors living in South Korea have low levels of influenza vaccination due to poor health literacy, despite having fewer language barriers than other immigrants, a research paper showed. The research team led by Park Sang-min, a professor of family medicine at Seoul National University Hospital, said on Wednesday that they published the study results on the latest iss
A South Korean court sentenced a jail term to the operator of “Anaki,” the Korean abbreviation of the now-defunct online community that advocated child care in extremely naturalistic ways and sold unauthorized herbal medicines. The Daegu District Court on Friday ordered two and a half years in prison, three years on probation, and a fine of 30 million won ($26,894) to Oriental medicine practit
With the inter-Korean relations improving after the South-North summit and the summit between North Korea and the U.S., people are raising hope for exchanges between two Koreas in the healthcare sector.However, experts said South Korea needs a systematic preparation, rather than a hasty approach, considering the North’s social infrastructure and other situations.Ihn Yo-han, president of th
The medical community has urged the government to actively support healthcare workers who are exposed to the risk of latent tuberculosis infections. People with latent TB do not feel sick and do not show any symptoms but positively react to the TB test. According to the latest issue of Scientific Reports, an international journal, 16 percent of the 1,655 workers (423 males and 1,232 females) a
After the government banned the import and sale of all drugs containing Chinese-made valsartan due to a possible carcinogen in the ingredient, the medical community called for a sharp reprimand on regulators and a full review of the verification system for generic drugs. Valsartan is a key ingredient in drugs to treat hypertension.“About 6 million patients with high blood pressure will suffer
More than 400 physicians rallied on the street in central Seoul over the weekend, demanding the government help root out violence against medical workers. The gathering came after a patient assaulted an emergency room (ER) doctor in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, early last week.The Korean Medical Association (KMA) led the rally in front of the National Police Agency in Seodaemun-gu, Sunday.
The medical community is expressing shock and rage over a patient’s assault on an emergency room (ER) doctor in Iksan, North Jeolla Province.At Iksan Hospital’s ER at about 10 p.m. on Sunday, the drunk patient attacked the physician, surnamed Lee, who was the head of the emergency medicine department.The patient assaulted the doctor with his elbows and fists, saying the doctor ridiculed hi
The rapid growth of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) is drawing attention, as the medical institution celebrates its 15th anniversary this year.Opening as a branch hospital of Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) on May 10, 2003, the SNUBH has become one of the leading hospitals in Korea.According to state portal All Public Information in One (ALIO), SNUBH marked 678
A high-ranking official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare has been arrested for allegedly taking bribes from a large general hospital in exchange for giving favorable information about a state project involving hospitals, police said Tuesday. The National Police Agency said it has arrested the government official, identified only by the surname Heo, for providing diverse information for Ga
Six years after upholding abortion ban, the Constitutional Court is reviewing whether or not abortion should be decriminalized.In August 2012, the court’s four judges out of the eight-judge panel voted to keep the ban. The other four voted to overturn it. The panel failed to get six votes in favor of overturning it, which led to the conclusion that abortion would be illegal in Korea. At 2
More than 10,000 doctors rallied on the streets of Seoul to call for the immediate end of the so-called Moon Jae-in Care and a proper system for the lives of the critically ill.Physicians warned that they would fight back with more force through nationwide campaigns if the government were to enforce the “Mooncare,” which is President Moon Jae-in’s policy of drastically expanding national healt
Local government-backed Oriental medicine therapies for women with subfertility showed a meager 1.9 percent success rate in pregnancy in three districts of Ulsan, an activist group said.According to Barun Medicine Institute (BMI), a non-government organization of physicians, none of the seven women who were treated with Oriental medicine in one district was successful in getting pregnant in 20
The government said Friday it would spend 7.5 trillion won ($7 billion) to support the biohealth sector by 2022 aggressively.The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy launched “Industrial Innovation 2020 Platform” with private companies and experts to discuss cooperative measures to accelerate private sector-driven industrial innovation and growth.According to the ministry, the government
More than 400 physicians gathered on a street in central Seoul Sunday to protest the arrest of two doctors and one nurse at Ewha Womans’ University Hospital and called for improving Korea’s healthcare system to treat physicians better.The medical workers were recently arrested on charges of negligent homicide of four newborns that died at the hospital late last year.Choi Dae-zip, who was e
Two physicians and one nurse were arrested Wednesday over the deaths of four newborns at Ewha Womans University Hospital in Seoul late last year. Earlier on Friday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency filed an arrest warrant for the pediatric professor, Cho Soo-jin, who was the attending doctor at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at the hospital, another physician Park Eun-ae, and a nu
Air pollution is associated with higher risk of suicide, a local research team has found.The research team led by Min Kyung-bok, a professor of preventive medicine at Seoul National University’s College of Medicine, analyzed the relationship between air pollution and suicide risk by tracking more than 260,000 people’s data in the National Health Insurance Service’s sample cohort between 2002 a
Intensive care units (ICUs) in Korea need a fundamental solution, such as increasing medical workers and receiving the government’s financial support, to prevent another case of Ewha hospital incident, experts said.Four newborns died of Citrobacter sepsis in one and a half hour on Dec. 16, at the neonatal ICU (NICU) of Ewha Womans University Medical Center. The experts’ comments
An obstetrics-gynecology clinic’s doctor, who received a jail term for an accidental homicide of a fetus during labor, has been found not guilty in an appeals court.The court ruled that although there was partial negligence during the delivery, it was difficult to recognize a causal relationship between the death of the fetus and the neglect. The Incheon District Court on Wednesday rej