Pregnant woman turned away from hospitals in South Korea gives birth in ambulance

SEOUL - A pregnant woman who collapsed at an airport was turned away from multiple hospitals and ended up giving birth inside an ambulance, the Incheon rescue authorities said on March 17.

The woman, a Vietnamese national in her 30s, was reported to the authorities after she collapsed at around 12.20pm local time on March 16 at Terminal 1 of the Incheon International Airport, according to the Incheon Fire Services.

Rescue personnel initially tried to take her to Inha University Hospital, but staff there said they could not take the patient in, as did other hospitals that were close by.

She was placed on standby in front of the hospital as the rescue workers looked for other options when her water broke and she went into labour inside the ambulance. She gave birth to a healthy boy around two hours later.

Only then were they accepted by the hospital, where they are now receiving medical care.

Since 2024, there have been many cases of ambulances carrying emergency patients struggling to find hospitals, amid a nationwide staff shortage sparked by the ongoing medical strike.

February data from the National Fire Agency showed 104 cases of ambulances being turned away by hospitals that they initially drove to during the Chinese New Year holidays.

This number of cases was significantly more than the 47 during the same holiday season in 2024, or the 51 during the same period in 2023 – both before the

ongoing strike.

Doctors walked out en masse starting Feb 20, 2024,

to protest the government’s plan to hike the enrolment quota at medical schools by 2,000 places in one year.

The government earlier in March announced that it will retract its planned hike and keep the enrolment number at 3,058, but only if all the medical students currently on leave return to their studies by the end of March. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK