The most severely hit hospital of the recent Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak garnered top grades in last year’s governmental infection control assessment of local hospitals, raising questions about the validity of the evaluation.

Samsung Medical Center, which has been the source of over 80 MERS cases to date, got the highest grade in all nine categories related to managing contagious diseases in the evaluation conducted by the Health Ministry, according to Rep. Jeong Jin-hoo from the minor Justice Party.

The categories include its infection monitoring program, risk elements in case of an outbreak within the facility and adherence to infection-related regulations.

”The assessment on medical institutions is constituted by law to enhance the quality of services and protect patients’ well-being. Yet Samsung Medical Center, which got top grades, was neutralized so easily (by the MERS outbreak),” he said. Jeong added that the ministry’s assessment itself may have been just a formality.

The hospital’s management of MERS outbreak was subject to further criticism Thursday when two members of the hospital’s medical staff were found to have been infected with MERS while not wearing Level D protective gear during their work at a ward exposed to the virus. Level D consists of coveralls or other work-type garments along with chemical-resistant footwear with steel toes and shanks, such as those worn by firefighters.

Despite the government’s recommendation of Level D protective gear for those involved in the treatment of MERS, Samsung Medical Center only supplied the gear Wednesday. As a “radical measure,” the ministry plans to test all the hospital’s employees for the disease.

The hospital’s infection control prowess had already been under fire after it was revealed last week that one of its ambulance workers worked for nine days despite showing MERS-like symptoms.

The ambulance worker was ultimately confirmed of having MERS, but a subsequent probe showed that he had not been on the hospital’s watch list because he was employed under a subcontractor.

By Yoon Min-sik ()


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com