Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH) is positioning itself at the forefront of protecting citizens' lives in the face of future infectious disease crises. Leveraging its vast experience in combatting a range of infectious diseases, including Covid-19 and MERS, the hospital aims to assume a pivotal role in safeguarding public health, the hospital said.

Yun Chang-ho, head of the Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital Establishment Team at SNUBH, shared the hospital’s strategy to become an infectious disease specialized hospital at a symposium on Thursday.

The event marked the commemoration of two significant milestones for SNUBH -- the first anniversary of the government-designated infectious disease specialized hospital and the 20th anniversary of SNUBH's foundation. 

In March 2022, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced that SNUBH won the bid for a state project to build a hospital specializing in infectious diseases in the Seoul metropolitan area, along with four other hospitals in other regions. SNUBH’s infecious disease specialized hospital plans to open by 2030.

Four other regional hospitals are the Chosun University Hospital in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, the Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, the Pusan ​​National University Yangsan Hospital in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, and the Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital in Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province. 

SNUBH will specifically serve as the control tower for infectious disease response in the Seoul metropolitan area.

Accordingly, SNUBH plans to make a large-scale investment of more than 300 billion won in addition to the government subsidy of 44.9 billion won ($33 million) to build an independent infection ward with six negative-pressure intensive care units (ICUs), 30 negative-pressure wards, two outpatient observation rooms, and two negative-pressure operating rooms (ORs).

“During the Covid-19 pandemic, we were able to keep our disease burden relatively low thanks to our vigorous test, trace, and treat (3T) strategy, innovative frontline worker response, and the public’s active participation in vaccination,” KDCA Commissioner Jee Young-mee said during her video address at the symposium.

“However, it was still difficult to secure enough critical care beds for confirmed patients, and there were cases of group infection in vulnerable facilities during the delta and omicron Covid-19 outbreak.”

Jee noted the establishment of infectious disease-specialized hospitals plays a crucial role in the government’s new infectious disease policy which aims to utilize medical and human resources in the region as efficiently as possible through the establishment of a rapid joint response system in collaboration with the KDCA.

SNUBH Director Song Jung-han said the shortened cycles of infectious diseases highlights the need for preparedness to safeguard human lives. Initiatives like the establishment of these five specialized hospitals for infectious diseases play a crucial role in this endeavor, he added.

To celebrate this designation, SNUBH also invited international infectious disease experts to discuss effective countermeasures for successful quarantine and specialized hospital management. 

Among the specially-invited guests, Dr. Shawn Vasoo, the Clinical Director of Singapore’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases, spoke about his experience in managing the center for three years.

“Aside from Covid-19, we have used the hospital to manage HIV and dengue inpatients in Singapore. All rooms can also be used to serve outpatient clients outside of a pandemic,” Vasoo explained.

Similarly, SNUBH is also making plans in this regard. In the event of an infectious disease outbreak, the specialized hospital will focus on providing intensive treatment for critically ill patients and facilitating a streamlined referral system for patients within the metropolitan region.

When the hospital is not being used to manage an infectious disease outbreak, it will be responsible for the diagnosis, examination, isolation, and treatment of patients with infectious diseases, the education and training of experts in infectious disease response at medical institutions, and the assignment of infectious disease patients to hospitals.

“Although adrenaline might have driven physicians during the Covid-19 pandemic, physician burnout was a major challenge and thus strong leadership is required to support the workforce and cut down on low-value-added tasks,” Dr. Vasoo said.

Despite the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recent announcement that Covid-19 no longer poses a global health emergency threat, Professor David C. Hooper, Chief of Massachusetts General Hospital, maintained that it has not affected the way people treat patients.

"Given that the frequency of those confirmed Covid-19 patients appears to be reducing, we can't perform full-scale activities for every patient, every time so we are focusing our efforts on symptom management and clinical response to patients," Hooper said.

Nevertheless, he emphasized the importance of investing in public health infrastructures to respond to the next pandemic and ensure that tests can be developed rapidly to identify infectious disease patients. He also noted that further work is needed to strengthen surveillance networks to notify the world when there is a public health threat on the horizon.

Dr. Arjun Srinivasan Associate Director of the CDC’s Healthcare Quality Promotion Division also mentioned the availability of online training resources from the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center to increase the capability of the U.S. healthcare systems to effectively manage special pathogens.

Meanwhile, SNUBH is also credited as one of the hospitals pioneering digitalization in Korea. 

In 2003, the hospital started with an average of 1,300 outpatients and 450 inpatients per day but has since grown into a leading medical institution in Korea with more than 7,000 outpatients and 1,200 inpatients per day.