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| A flea market in Jongno District, Seoul is crowed with visitors on Sunday. Such a scene is rare in recent days as people shun crowded venues because of the epidemic. / Yonhap |
Medical volunteers bear the brunt of coronavirus battle
By Kang Hyun-kyung
People of the southeastern city of Daegu were panicking until recently as their city suddenly made the headlines for several weeks since mid February when the nation's 31st coronavirus case was confirmed and became the prelude to an unprecedented public health crisis there.
With each new day, hundreds more people were tested positive for the virus which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year.
People were suffering from fear and anxiety but this soon turned into anger with many Daegu citizens asking, "Why us?"
Even now, the city is still reeling from the epidemic.
Kim Dae-hyun, a physician and professor of Family Medicine at Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital in Dalseo-gu, however, cautiously presented optimism about the battle against the virus.
"The worst may be over," he said. "People here were shocked at the virus outbreak. Some displayed anger," he told The Korea Times over the phone on Friday. "As more about the novel virus and its health impact is known, the initial fear has been gradually dispelled and people seemed to believe that it's more like a flu. Now many patients are calm and follow what medical staff tell them to do."
Over 7,100 Koreans were confirmed to have been infected with the virus with reported 50 deaths as of Sunday afternoon. Daegu accounts for 75 percent of the confirmed cases and 31 people there died of complications of the virus.
Korea's fatality rate stands at 0. 7 percent, higher than the influenza fatality rate (0.1 percent) in the United States during the past 11 days on average.
However, Korea's rate is much lower than that of other virus-hit countries, such as Italy, China and Iran.
According to experts, over 80 percent of infected people have mild symptoms. But the virus is still dangerous, particularly for the older and those who have underlying medical conditions.
"People don't need to be panicked even if they contract the virus. Still, prevention is better than cure," Kim said.
He is one of the medical volunteers who joined Dongsan Hospital, a sister hospital in Jung-gu of the Keimyung University medical center. The hospital houses nearly 300 coronavirus patients.
After treating his patients at the medical center, Kim comes over to Dongsan Hospital to take care of chores and assist the medical volunteer corps.
His work continues there until evening.
Kim responded to fellow doctor Lee Sung-gu's desperate call to help save Daegu from the epidemic.
On Feb. 25, Lee, a practicing physician and president of the Doctors Association of Daegu, pleaded to healthcare workers to join to treat virus patients there in an open letter sent to Daegu-based doctors. It was later made public by popular YouTubers upon the request from some doctors in order to recruit more healthcare workers.
In the tearful note, Lee urged fellow doctors to come to Daegu to treat the sick people. "Please join us to save our city Daegu. A friend in need is a friend indeed. Please come to the clinics, Daegu Medical Center, Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital and emergency rooms of hospitals to take care of virus patients," the open letter reads.
A Daegu-native, Lee himself set an example for other healthcare workers.
He closed his clinic to fully focus on treating patients who were hospitalized in a negative pressure room with the infectious virus at Dongsan Hospital. He was not available for a Korea Times interview.
Lee's heart-felt note and pioneering work ethic, meanwhile, moved doctors all across the nation. Some 550 doctors rushed to the southeastern city. Ninety percent of them are Daegu-based doctors, while the other 10 percent are from other cities.
Like Lee, some shut down their hospitals to become medical volunteers for the Daegu-based patients, while some came to the hospitals housing the virus patients in addition to running their own practices. Some practicing doctors in Seoul, Gwangju and other cities temporarily shut down their hospitals to lend their help to the patients most in need.
Another 1,000 paramedics joined the volunteer corps. These medical school graduates were supposed to serve for years in clinics in remote rural areas grappling with shortages of medical staff as a substitute for mandatory military service. The government placed them in virus-hit Daegu as the city was in dire need of healthcare workers.
Kim said the addition of over 1,550 doctors in total helped a lot in resolving the shortages of doctors, although there is still a shortage of nursing staff.
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| Kim Dae-hyun, a physician and professor of Family Medicine at Keimyung University Dongsan Hospital / Courtesy of Kim Dae-hyun |
Hang in there
Ordinary citizens joined the campaign to help save Daegu, too.
Donations and emergency relief goods have flooded into the office of the Doctors Association of Daegu after media reports about the shortages of necessary medical suits and gear for healthcare workers. Stars and celebrities donated cash and medical equipment to help save Daegu from the China-born epidemic. Some wrote letters for healthcare workers and Daegu citizens, encouraging them to hang in there.
"So many people have been sending us donations. The total amount has become so huge that we found we were unable to handle the financial resources any more. Thus, from last week, the Doctors Association of Daegu encouraged potential donors to send their money to other non-profit groups, so they can help Daegu," said Kim.
In Daegu, healthcare workers bear the brunt of the city's epidemic battle.
The shortage of nurses are still a problem that makes healthcare workers tired and exhausted.
"Nurses work in three shifts without proper rest, making them burn out. They live apart from their family members for fear of spreading the virus and sleep in dormitories or housing near their hospitals," he said.
Healthcare workers work long hours. Nurses are exposed to health risks as they are in close contact with the patients. They talk to the patients, feed them, check their blood pressure, body temperature and respiratory and pulse rates regularly.
Carrying out these duties in Level D suits tests their physical limits. Some nurses have difficulty breathing and develop headaches.
They only get to rest for two hours before shifts. Every day is a struggle for nurses.
Doctors are exhausted, too. Some 130 doctors are assigned to take care of people who are in self-quarantine. Each doctor visits 20 people daily to check their health status.
To prevent infection, the healthcare workers eat alone. They are not allowed to gather or chat.
Daegu is like a ghost town. Once the bustling Dongseong Stree ― Daegu's equivalent of Myeongdong in Seoul ― is now empty. Restaurants are closed and the subway is empty as the public stay in and try to avoid crowded places.
But such a landscape doesn't reflect the warmth growing inside the city. People in the southeastern city began to find a glimpse of hope amid desperation as fellow Koreans from other parts of the country reach out their helping hands to Daegu.
