Dear Editor:
Thank you for your interest in our original article and sharing your experiences.
The unprepared pandemic has impacted systems across the country, forcing and pushing the commitment of healthcare workers to their limits [1,2]. As you shared the situation in the Philippines, different countries responded differently to the pandemic according to their culture, economy, and religion [3].
The study we investigated and published is the healthcare workforce response of 6 representative education hospitals in the Daegu area [4]. In addition to this, Daegu Dongsan Hospital was designated as a dedicated hospital at that time, and many people from all over the country, including doctors and nurses, came to volunteer to overcome the crisis, and these activities played a big role in overcoming the massive outbreak that came without preparation [5]. Similar to the Philippine’s “kalinga” (love for others) and “bayanihan” (spirit of communal unity and cooperation), in Korea, there is a traditional culture of helping each other, cherishing and cooperating, such as the customs of “Hongik Ingan” (expanding the benefit of people) and “Pumasi” (communal exchange of labors). It can be said that this culture of helping and cooperating has played a role in helping Asia overcome the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic more successfully than the Americas or Europe [6].
There was inevitably a difference in the size of the epidemic to country, and this epidemiological difference is due to various factors, but it is typically shown differently depending on factors such as government leadership, community participation, and public health capacity [7]. Our study is expected to provide data on how many medical personnel were needed for pandemic, and can provide important information to prepare for the next one. We are still responding to COVID-19, but in preparation for the next pandemic, medical personnel, governments, and communities are actively working together to prepare for the situation and institutions in each country in advance.
Footnotes
Funding: None.
Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest.
- Conceptualization: HAK, KTK.
- Writing - original draft: HAK, KTK.
- Writing - review & editing: HAK, KTK.
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