Myongji Hospital has been selected to install the first multi-person hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber in the Seoul metropolitan area.

The Gyeonggi Province government said Wednesday it picked Myongji Hospital through open bidding as the medical institution that would install the first 10-person hyperbaric oxygen treatment chamber.

The hyperbaric oxygen treatment device is known to be effective in treating not only carbon monoxide poisoning but also emergency patients such as diving disease and gas embolism, burns, diabetes foot, brain abscess, bone marrow disease, and Buerger's disease.

The multi-person hyperbaric oxygen treatment device that Myongji Hospital plans to install has additional advantages as medical staffs can enter the device to conduct emergency operations with the patient safely secured inside the chambers.

The need for the installation of a multi-person hyperbaric oxygen treatment chamber emerged after a group of high school students, who were found unconscious due to gas poisoning in a large building in Suwon, had to be relocated to Wonju Severance Christian Hospital due to the absence of the equipment in Gyeonggi Province in December of last year.

The province set aside 2.2 billion won ($1.8 million) to support the installation of a hyperbaric oxygen treatment chamber for severe emergency patients in June.

"The hospital plans to complete the installation as well as test operation by the end of this year," Myongji Hospital President Kim Jin-goo said. "Starting early next year, we will build a hotline so that we can treat patients from Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province."