보건복지부 영문홈페이지

Reinforcing Mental Health Improvement Facilities as an Extension of the Measures to Incorporate COVID-19 Treatment into the General Healthcare System
일반의료체계 전환에 따른 정신건강증진시설 대응 역량 강화
 
PRESS RELEASE
Jun 29, 2022
 
The cumulative total of patients and staff members at mental health improvement facilities who tested positive for COVID-19 stands at 37,874 (as of June 25, 2022), accounting for 0.2% of the nation’s entire confirmed cases of 18,319,773.
 
The Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has steadily expanded the number of isolated beds exclusive for mentally ill patients with COVID-19 to ensure comprehensive treatment for both mental illness and COVID-19, while also enhancing the infection prevention and control capacity of mental health improvement facilities through infection control consultation, advance testing, and vaccination promotion.
 
As most mental health improvement facilities have densely populated, closed wards and involve close contact settings, they are highly vulnerable to infection spread that can easily lead to serial cluster infections. As such, they require continuous monitoring.
 
In particular, after COVID-19 treatment was incorporated into the general healthcare system in the wake of the outbreak of the Omicron variant, MOHW came up with separate measures for mental health improvement facilities to renovate the overall response system and remain prepared for a resurgence of the pandemic in the area of mental healthcare. 
 
These measures are aimed at building a more tight-knit network centered on local communities and reinforcing the capacity of on-site professionals and infrastructure to drive the shift toward a response system led by frontline workers and local governments and away from the existing system led by the Central Disaster Management Headquarters and National Mental Health Center. 
 
In this context, MOHW clearly defined the mental health improvement facilities that require monitoring as “facilities highly vulnerable to infection” and placed them under the targeted management of the respective metropolitan city/provincial government (On-Site Inspection Team, Response Support Team, etc.) or city/country/district government (Joint Response Team of the local public health center) for infection prevention, inspection, and response.
 
Each metropolitan city/provincial government is required to secure beds and patient transportation resources in advance and craft a response system for the possibility of a resurgence based on the systems and facilities at mental hospitals dedicated to mentally ill patients with infectious diseases within the area of jurisdiction.
MOHW also plans to ensure that individual local governments improve their management of statistics on confirmed cases* and conduct on-site inspections of the infection control status of mental medical institutions that have experienced the outbreak of two or more cluster infections. 
 
*The COVID-19 confirmed cases from vulnerable facilities subject to the focused management is identified by the respective city/county/district government. → The information submitted is compiled by the respective metropolitan city/provincial government in an integrated manner. → The latest developments are reported to the Central Disaster Management Headquarters on a weekly basis.
 
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency is reviewing the possibility of establishing an Infection Control Committee and Infection Control Office at each mental hospital with 100 patient beds or more and monitoring their operations. Furthermore, staff members at all mental medical institutions, mental health sanatoriums, and mental health rehabilitation facilities will be included in the target groups subject to infection control training, in addition to infection control managers at mental hospitals, to reinforce the infection control capacity of individual facilities. 
 
The Central Disaster Management Headquarters expects that these changes concerning mental health improvement facilities will help the central and local governments build a more tight-knit network and more efficiently respond to mental health needs on the healthcare front lines following the latest changes in the COVID-19 pandemic response measures. The Headquarters also called for each local government’s preemptive action and close cooperation to remain prepared for any possible resurgence of the pandemic and minimize subsequent cluster infections.
 
//For inquiries contact Media Relations, Ministry of health and Welfare
044-202-2047 or fairytale@korea.kr
 
http://www.mohw.go.kr/react/al/sal0301vw.jsp?PAR_MENU_ID=04&MENU_ID=0403&page=3&CONT_SEQ=371950