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A medical worker takes a sample from a patient for novel coronavirus testing at Bundang Jesaeng Hospital’s one-stop screening clinic on Mar. 3.

As local South Korean governments have begun introducing “drive-thru” screening clinics for swift novel coronavirus testing, a new form of “one-stop screening clinic” has emerged where visitors need only wait in their cars in the hospital parking lot while medical staff come to perform testing. While the drive-thru approach allows visitors to sign in, undergo an examination interview, and receive a prescription without leaving their vehicle, the one-stop screening center approach means that visitors need only wait inside their car.

Bundang Jesaeng Hospital in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, announced on Mar. 3 that it was launching a “vehicle-based one-stop screening clinic for safe and fast coronavirus testing. At this screening clinic, medical workers take samples from patients as they wait inside their vehicles, substantially reducing the testing time per person from one hour to between five and 10 minutes.

Bundang Jesaeng Hospital’s one-stop screening clinic

Up to 80 or so people per day will be able to undergo testing at the one-stop screening clinic, with one physician, four nurses/clinical pathologists, two administrative workers, and three guides working from 9 am to 5 pm on weekdays. Those seeking testing can park in a location designated by the hospital and wait inside their vehicle, where staff members come directly to perform all testing.

The location is the parking lot in front of Bundang Jesaeng Hospital’s main building. The site covers an area of 457 square meters. A pilot operation was launched on Mar. 2 with one screening tent, nine waiting areas, and one office facility in place. Seventy people underwent testing on the pilot operation day.

“We decided to open the vehicle-based one-stop screening center to allow for more testing while preventing the possibility of mutual infection as people wait for testing,” explained Lee Young-sang, director of Bundang Jesaeng Hospital, adding that the hospital will “do our best to ensure that patients undergoing testing can have tests performed in a more convenient way.”

On Feb. 27, Bundang Jesaeng Hospital was designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare as “public relief hospital B,” where those with respiratory ailments are kept separate from ordinary outpatients during the entire treatment process from arrival to hospitalization.

By Kim Gi-seong, South Gyeonggi correspondent

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