General multi-bed wards to remain gender-segregated; ICUs and two-person family rooms exempted
The government has reversed its plan to abolish mandatory gender segregation in hospital wards, announcing Sunday it will keep the current system in place.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Sunday it would revise its proposed amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Medical Service Act to drop the provision that would have eliminated gender-separation requirements for inpatient rooms, after public comments submitted during the legislative notice period overwhelmingly opposed the change.
The government had originally sought to remove the gender-separation standard altogether, citing a gap between existing regulations and actual hospital practice. However, once the proposed amendment was posted for public comment, fierce opposition from patients flooded major notice boards, including the Integrated Legislative Notice Center.
Commenters sharply criticized the proposal as failing to account for the realities of shared multi-bed wards. Patients said that activities such as changing clothes, receiving medical procedures and having urinary catheters replaced happen frequently in ward rooms, and that sharing a space with a person of the opposite sex separated only by a curtain violates both privacy and basic human rights.
Concerns were also raised about the risk of sex crimes — particularly illegal filming and sexual assault — issues that have drawn heightened public attention in recent years.
Faced with deteriorating public sentiment, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Sunday it would explicitly maintain the gender-separation requirement for general inpatient rooms as currently written.
However, the ministry said it would add a proviso allowing narrow exceptions when strictly necessary for patient convenience, provided other patients are not adversely affected.
Under the final revised proposal, only two exceptions will be permitted: intensive care units, where gender-separate operation is impractical across all medical institutions nationwide, and two-person rooms shared by spouses or immediate family members for the purpose of joint caregiving.
Article 35-2 of the existing Enforcement Rules of the Medical Service Act has long required inpatient rooms to be operated separately by gender. Hospitals found in violation face a first-offense corrective order and a 15-day suspension of operations for a second offense.
thlee@heraldcorp.com
