Seoul tightens regulations on postnatal centers

South Korea’s health authorities on Wednesday announced a set of stricter safety measures to address sanitation and health concerns at the nation’s postnatal care centers.

Worries about standards at the centers were raised after some 120 newborns were exposed to tuberculosis by a nurse at a Seoul-based facility about three months ago.

Postpartum care centers in which newborns stay in a separate room with other babies, away from their mothers, and are looked after by nurses in shifts, are a popular option in South Korea. They are united with their mothers for breast-feeding and other bonding time. The schedule for the mothers, who often seek the service to ensure they can rest for about a week after giving birth, includes facials, body massages, and child care classes.

The Health Ministry said it will now encourage the centers to place mothers and their newborns together, and discourage them to house a large number of babies in the same room all at once.

“This system in which many babies are staying with one another in the same room, has been making newborns vulnerable to possible infection,” said the ministry in a statement. “Starting soon, all babies will be required to be kept at least 90 centimeters from each other in the same room.”

Health authorities also said that the current system at the centers, in which mothers and babies stay in separate rooms, goes against the World Health Organization’s recommendations on postnatal care of the mother and the newborn.

The WHO guidelines specifically mention that the mother and baby “should not be separated and should stay in the same room 24 hours a day,” and mothers “should be counseled on hygiene, especially hand washing.”

According to data from the Health Ministry, the number of postnatal centers increased from 488 in 2011 to 602 this year.

Meanwhile, the number of newborn children who have developed infectious diseases while staying at such centers has increased dramatically, from 49 in 2013 to 264 so far this year. Three mothers and three caregivers were also infected while staying in such facilities this year.

As of this year, 68.8 percent of new Korean mothers opt to stay at postnatal centers instead of home after their deliveries. The centers are especially sought by women whose family members are not available to help with their postpartum care.

Yet 122 centers, about 20 percent of all facilities nationwide, were reported to the authorities for hiring unqualified nurses, while 113 of them faced disciplinary action for not educating their staff on infectious disease control and prevention as required, from 2013-2015.

The Health Ministry said all staff who work at such centers are now required to receive education on infectious disease control, and must be vaccinated for a total of five infectious viruses that are prevalent in such centers before being hired. The viruses are: hepatitis A, influenza, varicella, Corynebacterium diphtheria and measles. They will also soon be required to wear facial masks all times when working and interacting with babies.

All visitors of mothers will be banned from seeing babies, and will be only allowed to meet the parent. Any center that has been affected by an infectious disease outbreak will be shut down permanently if the center is proven to be responsible for the outbreak by not following the rules, the Health Ministry said.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)