Chungbuk Hospital's 119 first-aid smart system response rate ranked 'last' in the nation

(Cheongju = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Geon-young = The response rate of hospitals in the North Chungcheong region to 119 paramedics' requests about whether they can accommodate emergency patients was found to be the lowest in the country.

According to data submitted from the National Fire Agency by Rep. Yong Hye-in, a member of the National Assembly Public Administration and Security Committee, on the 21st, the non-response rate of hospitals in the North Chungcheong region to requests for the 119 emergency smart system in the first half of this year was 95%, the highest in the country.

The non-response rate increased every year to 66.3% in 2024 and 91% last year.

The 119 emergency smart system is a system that was introduced nationwide in 2024 to prevent 'emergency room hit-and-runs' by asking emergency services to ask multiple hospitals at the same time whether they can accommodate them and the hospitals replying through the system.

The non-response rate is the ratio of the number of requests made by 119 emergency services that did not receive an acceptable or unacceptable response from the hospital.

By medical institution, Chungju Medical Center had the highest rate at 99.88%, followed by Konkuk University Chungju Hospital at 99.12% and Chungbuk National University Hospital at 92.2%.

Rep. Yong said, "Without real-time response from hospitals, it is difficult to determine which hospitals can currently accept patients, so even if the law is enforced, the reality of visiting hospitals by phone may repeat itself. We need to reflect the 'response proportion' in the local emergency medical center evaluation system, local government support projects, and agreements with hospitals to make hospitals respond to 119 requests."