"If you're exposed to radiation, where are you going?"31 emergency radiological institutions nationwide

[Anchor]
In May, two workers were exposed to radiation at Samsung Electronics' Giheung Campus.

People exposed to radiation need treatment in separate and isolated spaces from normal patients, but if they are exposed to radiation, where and how should they be treated?

Reporter Lim Neul-sol is here to inform you.

[Reporter]
My fingers were swollen as if they had been stung by a bee.

It's a day after exposure to radiation, and a month later, my palms are black and my skin is peeled off as if I had been burned.

Unless exposed to more than lethal radiation, the human impact of radiation exposure is not immediately apparent.

The initial response is more important than anything else because symptoms develop after the incubation period.

Once radiation exposure is suspected, you should visit a radiation emergency medical institution rather than a general hospital.

Emergency medical institutions use various dose evaluation methods to accurately measure exposure and, if necessary, support patients' recovery through stem cell culture treatment.

In other words, according to the patient's exposure situation, the patient is treated in a way that suits the symptoms.

[Cho Min-soo / Director of the National Radiological Emergency Medical Center, Korea Atomic Energy Agency: When a patient with internal contamination enters the hospital, medical staff wearing protective suits check for contamination with a radioactive contamination meter in the isolated emergency medical area. If contamination is identified at a level that requires treatment, measures are taken to discharge the pollutants after moving them to an isolation ward.]

Since 2002, the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has been operating the National Radiological Emergency Medical Center to enable rapid medical response in the event of a radiation emergency.

Currently, there are 31 emergency medical institutions nationwide, including Seoul National University Hospital and Pusan National University Hospital.

The primary radiation emergency medical institution is in charge of rapid emergency measures for exposed patients, such as radiation leakage, centering on hospitals near nuclear power plants, and the second is to perform specialized treatment for patients who have been evacuated from the primary institution.

[Kang Cheong-won / Director of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Disaster Prevention Environment Division: We are establishing a radiation emergency treatment system without blind spots by designating the 1st and 2nd radiation emergency treatment institutions]

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, where the National Radiological Emergency Medical Center is located, supports patient reception and counseling related to radiation exposure accidents through emergency calls operated 24 hours a day.

In addition, it operates a "radiation impact clinic" that provides radiation-related health counseling and education as well as specialized treatment for exposure.

I'm YTN Science Lim Neul-sol.

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video: Kim Young-hwan

Design: Lee Wonhee