Hospitals are increasingly guarding up against violence after a mentally ill patient stabbed a psychiatrist to death at Kangbuk Samsung Hospital.

In-hospital security personnel wearing riot gear stand guards at Seoul National University Hospital (Credit: Seoul National University Hospital)

Hospitals are either providing security gears to security guards or reviewing to install a security checkpoint at the entrance and an evacuation space.

Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) said it has reinforced hospital security to prepare for an assault during medical consultations and prevent a copycat crime after the murder of the psychiatrist.

SNUH increased the number of security officers at the psychiatrist department from one to two and upgraded the status of some security guards including those at the emergency room to “in-hospital police officer.”

The hospital designated 11 hospital police officers Thursday, providing them with bullet-resistant vests, extendable batons, and stun guns in preparation for terrorism.

“Since the death of the psychiatrist, not only physicians but patients are getting nervous. We will seek the best options to ensure comfortable and safe care,” an official at SNUH said.

Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, where psychiatrist Lim Se-won died, is mulling various measures such as installing a security checkpoint and dispatching security guards.

Another university hospital in Seoul is seeking to establish an evacuation space where medical staffs could use in case of emergency.

“We will build an emergency call system where an emergency button directly connects to the security team. This is to follow the hospital head’s order,” an official at the hospital said.

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