"Nearly 70-80% of the Care Package in Seoul's Living Treatment Centers Are Thrown Away"

[경향신문]

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon inspects preparations while listening to a staff at the living treatment center at the University of Seoul in Dongdaemun-gu on July 17. Yonhap News

Employees at the Seoul metropolitan government have pointed out that most of the products included in the care package for COVID-19 patients with light or no symptoms under quarantine at the city’s living treatment centers are being discarded without being used. This has been criticized as a result of failing to properly survey the demand when determining the necessary items.

Recently, in an online board exclusively for Seoul’s civil servants, one official wrote, “Improvements are urgently needed concerning the items included in the care package for people entering living treatment centers.” The civil servant who identified herself as one on duty at a living treatment center said, “The employees in the management support team here have repeatedly raised this issue, and I also found it so unreasonable, that I am requesting improvements.”

According to the post, there were 46 items included in the care package for people entering living treatment centers, but when the staff there cleaned the rooms after patients left, they discovered that nearly 70-80% of the items were discarded without ever being opened. The official who wrote the post pointed out the problems. Some items were not needed in the living treatment centers; some were necessary but not as much as was handed out; and the quality of some items had problems.

According to the post, the patients were given 800 grams of laundry detergent, when they had no access to washers. The post went on to mention that the cleaning tools included in the package were not disposable, but items usually used repeatedly in an average household, which the official claimed was a waste of resources. The official continued and said, “Since rarely any of the people who come here clean their rooms, the cleaning tools are just discarded,” and added, “I can’t see why we give them wastebaskets when we hand out new baskets for waste every day.” She also said, “Even if the items are new and have never been opened, we have to discard them all since they are contaminated. But the more I think about it, the more I think it is a waste.” She demanded improvements saying, “There may be some people who do use these items, but in that case, we can provide the goods upon request.”

Items prepared for a patient inside a living treatment center at the University of Seoul in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul on July 17. Yonhap News

The post went on to mention goods that are handed out in excessive quantities compared to the time patients stay in the centers. They get a package of 200 cotton swabs, 50 sanitary gloves, 50 tea bags of green tea, 10 packages of ground coffee, and 50 packages of instant coffee, which most are discarded without ever being used. The patients are not allowed to take the goods they receive at the living treatment centers home with them. Patients complained of dull nail clippers and fabric crocking from the blanket. The post received over 3,000 views in just five days and attracted more than 50 comments from employees at living treatment centers who said they agreed. Apart from the post, some even added a comment asking authorities to inspect the price of the meals.

When people continued to add comments to the post, the city of Seoul decided to drastically improve the items in the care package from July 23, according to the Kyunghyang Shinmun coverage on July 25. The Seoul metropolitan government explained that they immediately examined ways to improve the care package after the post came up and began handing out packages with a new list of items to patients who entered the treatment centers on July 23. They removed items that were not popularly used, such as laundry detergent, batteries, razors and foam cleansers, and decided to provide the items if the patients asked for them. Also the city will reduce the number (amount) of cotton swabs, toothpaste, coffee, and toilet paper. The city also decided to resolve quality issues by replacing the goods with other items, such as the blankets that caused fabric crocking. Nail clippers were also removed from the items in the care package. The city decided to designate plastic storage bags, wastebaskets, cleaning tools, baskets and bathroom slippers for common use.

Due to the latest measure, the number of items in the care package has been reduced to 24 from the previous 32 and the price of one care package has dropped from 106,000 won per box to 77,110 won per box. An official from the Seoul metropolitan government said, “We will listen to all the opinions of the staff and continue to make improvements,” and added, “We will continue to examine the items and quantity of various necessities and work to accommodate the patients and save the city’s budget.”