J Korean Med Assoc.  2015 Jul;58(7):617-623. 10.5124/jkma.2015.58.7.617.

Functions and roles of public healthcare for controlling infectious diseases

Affiliations
  • 1Former Director of Cheonan Public Medical Center, Cheonan, Korea. bluecow12@hanmail.net

Abstract

The importance of public healthcare system has been widely recognized since the current Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemic began. However, their capacities are not sufficient in both quantitative and qualitative perspective aspects. When a large-scale outbreak develops, public hospitals and community health centers should be primarily responsible for treatment of patients and isolation of individuals who are likely to infect other people, with the supplemented of private hospitals. Clearly, the central and municipal governments, and public healthcare system has failed to deal with the current Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemic, largely due to lack of expertise and professional staff. The governments at various levels and public hospitals should thoroughly and publicly review the work process and problems revealed in dealing with the current epidemic. Based on such evaluation, they should establish action plans for infectious disease control, and regular training and exercise should be done according to them. In addition, more public hospitals should be established under the regional health planning. It is important for public heathcare facilities to hire physicians on a stable and long-term employment contract, and to train them so that they could play a role in case of epidemic.

Keyword

Public hospitals; Community health centers; MERS epidemics; Infectious disease control

MeSH Terms

Communicable Diseases*
Community Health Centers
Delivery of Health Care*
Employment
Hospitals, Private
Hospitals, Public
Humans
Middle East
Regional Health Planning

Cited by  2 articles

Lessons learned from Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus cluster in Korea
Jae Wook Choi
J Korean Med Assoc. 2015;58(7):595-597.    doi: 10.5124/jkma.2015.58.7.595.

Role of Korean Society of Pediatric Infectious Disease during the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Outbreak in Korea, 2015
Kyung-Hyo Kim
Pediatr Infect Vaccine. 2015;22(3):136-142.    doi: 10.14776/piv.2015.22.3.136.


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