South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare has announced 2.5 billion won ($1.7 million) funding to launch a network of remote ICUs in regional hospitals next year.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Based on a media release, at the core of this network is an integrated control centre for monitoring the status and condition of patients in ICUs in small and medium hospitals. 

It will feature an alarm system to rapidly detect patient deterioration or worsening conditions. The control centre will also be manned by staff around the clock, monitoring such information as patient status, bed utilisation, and abnormal symptoms. 

The control centre will also enable collaboration among hospitals when necessary, the MOHW shared. 

Two regions and their medical hospitals will be initially chosen to set up a remote ICU next year; the ICUs are expected to become operational by 2026. 

WHY IT MATTERS

MOHW is launching the e-ICU project as part of solutions to address the lack of healthcare resources and infrastructure in regional medical institutions. It will also resolve issues in operating ICUs in regional hospitals, bolstering their capability to treat critically ill patients. 

Over the past decade, ICU bed rates per 100,000 adults in South Korea increased, according to a local study. 

Another study also noted regional disparities in the number of ICU beds and length of stay from 2011 to 2019: two regions, Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, accounted for almost half of the country's total ICU beds and length of stay, which suggested centralisation of the health system, according to researchers. They also projected that ICU bed occupancy could double by 2030. 

THE LARGER TREND

Besides the ICU, South Korea also focuses on relieving pressures in overwhelmed emergency departments. In May, the MOHW announced a $17 million project to develop an AI-driven clinical decision support system for EDs. The ministry has involved major hospitals such as Samsung Medical Center and Asan Medical Center in this five-year project.

Two more AI-based emergency systems are part of projects recently announced under the Korean Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health – one is a regional emergency system for patient classification and transfer and the other is a centralised real-time critical patient transfer management system. 

ON THE RECORD

"Actively utilising Korea’s world-class ICT technology to promote information exchange between hospitals will be an effective solution to address the lack of regional medical personnel and infrastructure," Koh Hyung-Woo, director of MOHW Advanced Medical Support commented.