Medical workers from Korea, China, and Japan have shared infection management and treatment for cancer patients amid the new coronavirus pandemic.
The National Cancer Center (NCC) said it held a video conference on Covid-19 infection control with its Chinese and Japanese counterparts from 3 p.m. Thursday at the request of China.
The heads and infection control workers at the national cancer centers of the two countries took part in the conference to share information and experiences on their infection control in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
To get over the pandemic, the Korean participants put the priority on thorough infection control while their Chinese and Japanese colleagues cited telemedicine and securing of hospital beds, respectively, as foremost tasks.
Choi Young-ju, the head of the Infection Control Team at the NCC, introduced Korea’s national quarantine system and NCC’s responses.
Specifically, Choi explained the overall Covid-19 situation in Korea, domestic medical institutions’ inquiry system of international travel records, drive-through tests, walk-in screening process at the NCC, the separate operation of test clinics for emergency cases and outpatient, and guidelines for cancer patients concerning Covid-19.
The Chinese participants emphasized that telemedicine played a critical role in coping with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“More than anything else, telemedicine has played a critical role in caring for cancer patients amid Covid-19,” National Cancer Center of China Director, He Jie said. “As Covid-19 can affect the mortality rate of elderly cancer patients, we mobilized all institutions and systems available.”
Lee Eun-sook, director of the National Cancer Center, said, “Korea also made the most of untact treatment temporarily and went all out to prevent infection at hospitals through rigorous infection control.
She went on to say, “We will prepare fully for other infectious diseases, which may break out after Covid-19, based on the shared experiences of the three nations.”
Hitoshi Nakagama, president of National Cancer Center Japan, said, “As coronavirus patients are increasing Tokyo, we are actively coping by, for instance, securing 25 beds exclusively for that purpose.” Nakagama added that he expects the three national cancer institutions would cooperate even after the Covid-19 pandemic.
On March 30, the NCC also participated in the video conference held by the Union for International Cancer Control and explained to 62 countries its know-how to deal with Covid-19.