Carbon monoxide poisoning is one of the most serious public health problems in Korea. According to authors´ recent survey on the incidence of CO poisoning, tie severity of health hazards by this invincible demon is threatening one. Among 30 millions of people who depend on the coal briquette as a domestic fuel for heating and for cooking, almost one million are suffering from noxiousness of coal briquette gas, especially from carbon monoxide. More than 85%o of the intoxicated by CO are mild cases with those symptoms such as headache, emesis and chest pain, but around 15 % of the intoxicated are semi-comatose or comatose. The fatal cases have been estimated around three to four thousands annually.
In Korea, we are employing very unique under floor heating system called as `ONDOL´. The coal briquette gas passes through the horizontal flues below the mud plastered stone floor covered by oil paper and exhausts out through the chimney located in the opposite side of the fire place.. The regurgitation .of the exhausted gas by weather conditions, poorly built chimney and broken flues take place and finally leak into the room through the door or broken floor pad. However, the anthracite coal is the only -available underground energy source in Korea, and the cost of it is very reasonable taken into consideration of our developing economic status.
Initially, authors studied this serious health problem in the point of view of preventive medicine since 1963. The extensive status surveys brought us such a disappointing conclusion that carbon monoxide, poisoning in Korea is entailed by so many complex socio-economic and cultural variables besides the true medical emergency. These variables are acting as the unshaken impediments on the way to final solution of this preventable accident. Authors´ second approach to this problem by seeking more effective therapeutic measures to be out of the realm of preventive medicine. But general indifference of the health authorities concerned and the -clinicians to this social malady as inevitable accident pushed us to the territory of the clinical practice by opening the Hyper baric Chamber Unit (one man, clinical- type, designed by author, 1965) in Seoul National University Hospital at January 19, 1969. It has been more than 10 _years´ since our initiation of the Hyperbaric Chamber Unit in Seoul National University Hospital. More than 2,200 CO poisonings have been benefited by this single one-man hyperbaric chamber with dramatic recovery rate of almost to 98%. Now, there are more than 180 hospitals operating Hyperbaric Chamber Unit in Korea. We have 68 general hospitals with Hyperbaric Chamber Unit in Seoul City. As long as we use anthracite coal briquette as our most popular- domestic fuel we can´t help living under this awful risk all the time.
The development of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in Korea may seem a little bit curious because this unit is still regarded as one of very expensive medical luxuries in the view of cost-benefit outcome. We resolved this problem by local supply of economic cost. We hope we can apply the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy to many other clinical indications in near future, overcoming present emphasis on the treatment of CO poisoning in Korea.
|