Nationwide Expansion of Customized Emergency Patient Transfer System... Hospitals Designated by Severity

Ministry of Health and Welfare Announces Proposed Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Emergency Medical Services Act
Establishing a Legal Basis for Central and Regional Emergency Medical Operation Centers

Going forward, each city and province will be able to operate a transfer system that selects the most appropriate hospital for emergency patients based on the severity of their condition and their specific diseases, in accordance with the regional characteristics.

Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on July 16 that it will hold a legislative preview of a partial amendment to the "Enforcement Decree of the Emergency Medical Services Act" containing these provisions until August 10.

This proposed amendment is a follow-up measure to nationwide expansion of the results of the "Innovative Emergency Patient Transfer System Pilot Program" that was implemented in Gwangju, North Jeolla, and South Jeolla from March to May this year. According to the ministry, the pilot program demonstrated the effectiveness of the regional-centric transfer system, showing a decrease in the daily average number of deaths among critically ill emergency patients and a reduction in on-site stay times.

Under the amendment, provincial and metropolitan governors will be able to designate appropriate transfer hospitals for emergency patients, reflecting local characteristics when establishing and implementing regional transfer systems. The process for confirming the capacity of emergency medical institutions is also included. In addition, hospitals for critically ill patients will be determined by the National or Metropolitan Emergency Medical Situation Room or Emergency Dispatch Center; hospitals for moderately ill patients will be determined by the Emergency Dispatch Center; and hospitals for patients with mild conditions will be decided by 119 emergency paramedics on site.

The amendment will also clearly specify the legal foundation for establishing National and Metropolitan Emergency Medical Situation Rooms to support the rapid transfer of critically ill patients and inter-hospital transfers. Furthermore, to enhance cooperation among related agencies, government officials from national institutions and other organizations will be allowed to be dispatched to these situation rooms.

Legitimate reasons for emergency medical institutions to refuse or avoid providing emergency medical care will also be clarified. These include circumstances where emergency care cannot be provided due to insufficient facilities, equipment, or personnel, as well as when there are no specialists available to provide final treatment for critical emergency patients such as those with severe trauma or severe cardiac or cerebrovascular diseases. In such cases, the head of the emergency medical institution must report the reason without delay to the National or Metropolitan Emergency Medical Situation Room, and this information must then be provided in real-time to the Emergency Dispatch Center.

The roles of emergency medical institutions will also be clarified. Regional Emergency Medical Centers will focus on critically ill patients, Local Emergency Medical Centers will focus on moderately ill patients, and Local Emergency Medical Institutions will deal mainly with patients with mild conditions. This functional division is intended to improve the efficiency of limited emergency medical resources.

Additionally, the amendment will provide clear definitions for "transfer" and "final treatment," and strengthen the procedures for evaluating emergency medical institutions. It will also establish a basis for reflecting evaluation results in various policy implementations.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to finalize the amendment after collecting public feedback during the legislative preview period. Relevant opinions can be submitted to the ministry's Emergency Medical Policy Division or the Citizen Legislation Participation Center by August 10.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.