Page 32 - 2020 Defence White Paper

thereby building a system for immediately providing available personnel, equipment, and supplies. The
dedicated teams divided the country into four regions (Seoul/Gyeonggi-do, Daegu/Gyeongsangbuk-do,
Daejeon/Chungcheong-do, and others) for effective management, while regional dedicated units
dispatched "cooperation officers for rapid military support" to provinces and cities nationwide so as to
identify and provide the required support in a timely manner before local governments request any
support. The Defense Rapid Support Team managed the situation systematically by inspecting the
required military support, outcomes, and plans for each dedicated team on a daily basis.

| Medical Personnel and Bed Support | As the lack of medical personnel and beds emerged as an
issue due to the wide spread of the virus, the ROK Armed Forces has dispatched over 41,000 medical
officers and nurses to quarantine stations, hospitals, temporary living facilities, and screening clinics from
January to November 2020. In February in particular, the ROK Armed Forces adjusted the military
training period of 742 new public health doctors in Daegu/Gyeongsangbuk-do and appointed them early
to be deployed as field personnel. Furthermore, among candidates who were scheduled to be trained as
medical officers, the ROK Armed Forces reduced the military training period of 96 candidates who
volunteered to provide medical support in Daegu/Gyeongsangbuk-do and dispatched them to the field.
The ROK Armed Forces also moved up the graduation ceremony and commission ceremony of the
Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy and deployed all 75 new nursing officers to the military hospital
in Daegu as soon as they were commissioned, thereby actively contributing to the treatment of patients.
Military medical personnel performed tasks such as collecting samples, conducting diagnostic tests,
contact-tracing, and treating coronavirus patients at the forefront.
In addition, 424 negative pressure rooms in military hospitals were provided for the treatment of
coronavirus patients, contributing to the resolution of the shortage in hospital beds. The Armed Forces
Capital Hospital, which had previously provided state-designated negative pressure rooms (9 beds) for
patients with mild to intermediate symptoms, is providing support by converting the negative pressure
rooms for patients with severe symptoms, and its trauma center offers negative pressure rooms (40
beds) for patients with mild to intermediate symptoms. The Armed Forces Daegu Hospital (303 beds)

Support for collecting samples from the AFMC (May 2020) Inpatient treatment training for coronavirus patient in a
negative pressure room at the Armed Forces Trauma Center
(September 2020)

2020 Defense White Paper