It has been reported that it takes an average of 33 minutes to transport severely injured patients to hospitals as of 2023. This is 8 minutes longer compared to 25 minutes in 2015. There are also significant regional disparities.
According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's '2023 Community-Based Severe Trauma Survey Statistics' released on the 9th, the average time it took for paramedics to arrive at hospitals after a report of a severely injured patient was 33 minutes. In the first year of the survey in 2015, it was 25 minutes, which means it now takes 8 minutes longer after 8 years. However, compared to 35 minutes in 2022, it has decreased by 2 minutes.
The transport time for non-traumatic severe injuries such as poisoning, drowning, and suffocation also increased from 27 minutes in 2015 to 37 minutes in 2023, a delay of 10 minutes.
The time required for the transport of severely injured patients varied significantly by region. Among the 17 cities and provinces, the places where it took the least time to transport were Incheon and Daejeon, both taking 25 minutes. Seoul (26 minutes) and Gwangju (27 minutes) were also under 30 minutes.
In contrast, Gangwon took the longest at 46 minutes, followed by Sejong (42 minutes), Chungbuk and Chungnam (39 minutes), Jeonbuk (38 minutes), and Gyeongbuk (38 minutes), all exceeding the average.
The community-based severe trauma survey is a comprehensive investigation of severely injured patients, non-traumatic severe injuries, and multiple casualties (more than 6 patients from a single disaster) transported by 119 emergency services. In 2023, there were 8,192 cases of severe trauma patients.