Global Courant 2023-05-17 15:51:00
SEOUL – A 5-year-old boy with acute respiratory symptoms died over Children’s Day weekend earlier in May after five hospitals refused to admit him, local media reported Tuesday.
According to the reports, the boy was rushed to the emergency room of a hospital in Seoul when his body temperature started to rise and he started having breathing problems during the night on May 6. But the hospital said it could not admit him, citing a lack of available beds.
Children’s Day falls on May 5 in South Korea.
The boy was rejected by four other hospitals due to lack of room or staff, before the fifth hospital, which agreed to treat him only as an outpatient, diagnosed croup or acute laryngotracheobronchitis (ALTB) and sent him home.
Croup or ALTB is a viral infection of the upper respiratory tract of the throat.
As the boy’s breathing problems continued, his mother was about to take him back to the hospital when the child collapsed.
He was rushed to the nearest emergency room, but died just 40 minutes after arriving.
Fifth Hospital officials claimed medical staff cleared the boy to go home after confirming his condition was stable.
The case is the latest in a series of seriously ill people who have died after being unable to find doctors and hospitals to treat them.
A serious mismatch between supply and demand hampers medical services in critical disciplines, with pediatrics and cardiothoracic surgery among the areas where physician shortages are most acute. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
