[Anchor]

Seven out of nine specialist doctors at Ajou University Hospital's Pediatric Emergency Center have expressed their intent to resign. The move comes in the wake of a recent police search and seizure operation at the center. If this leads to actual resignations, chaos in the regional emergency medical system seems inevitable.

Reporting by Jeong Seong-jin.

[Reporter]

This is the Pediatric Emergency Medical Center at Ajou University Hospital.

Nine specialist doctors work in 24-hour shifts, 365 days a year, to care for pediatric emergency patients.

However, seven of these specialists, including the head of the center, expressed their intent to resign on the night of the 27th.

The catalyst was the death of a four-month-old infant last July.

The baby, who showed symptoms of cyanosis, died while receiving emergency treatment from medical staff. Following a complaint filed by the bereaved family, the police conducted a search and seizure at the center on September 30.

The medical staff had protested against what they called interference with treatment and being treated like Criminals, demanding an apology. However, after the head of the police investigation maintained during a parliamentary audit on the 27th that the investigation was inevitable, they reportedly decided to express their intent to resign.

[Ham Young-wook / Head of the Metropolitan Investigation Unit, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency (Oct. 27, Parliamentary Audit): I truly feel regretful about the pain the medical staff must have experienced and the inconvenience caused to patients.]

[Han Ji-a / People Power Party Lawmaker (Oct. 27, Parliamentary Audit): They say their hands are shaking so much that they cannot provide treatment within the jurisdiction of that police agency.]

While resignation letters have not actually been submitted or accepted yet, the news of the mass resignations has shaken the regional medical community.

There are only 14 pediatric emergency centers nationwide.

Severe pediatric patients from Gangwon and Chungbuk, where there are no such centers, also visit Ajou University Hospital. If this center fails to function properly, many children may have difficulty receiving timely treatment.

[Park Soo-hyun / Director of Public Relations, Korean Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine: The collapse of a base center that has been barely holding on could soon be a signal for the collapse of the entire pediatric emergency medical network nationwide. (The medical staff feel) there is no longer any reason to hold on here....]

As the rift deepens without proper investigation standards established for essential medical fields, patient anxiety is also growing.

(Video by Bae Moon-san | Video Editing by Lee So-young | Design by Lim Chan-hyuk)