Facilities Upgrade
The Samsung Medical Center will overhaul its intensive care unit (ICU) system in order not to repeat the recent spread of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus.
Samsung Medical Center president Song Jae-hoon had a press interview on Sept. 2 and announced that it will invest a total of 100 billion won (US$84.3 million) to that end. “For the next five years, 41 billion won [US$34.6 million] of it will be invested in the interest of patient safety and the improvement of the quality of medical treatment based on MERS vaccine development in the wake of the spread of the infectious disease,” he said. He continued by saying, “In addition, more than 50 billion won [US$42 million] will be spent on the improvement of hospital infrastructure such as the expansion of the ICU and the negative pressure isolation ward.”
He added that the hospital will cooperate with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in developing the vaccines. “In view of the very high level of expertise required for vaccine development, Samsung Medical Center will entrust the IVI with the entire process regarding the selection of developers and the management of the vaccines, while acting as a financing sponsor,” he explained.
Established by the United Nations (UN), the IVI is headquartered in Korea. At present, the organization has the UN, the World Health Organization (WHO) and 35 governments as its sponsors.