One of the important things in the currently raging Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak is that all of the patients, except the first one who caught the disease during a trip to the Middle East, were infected by the virus within hospitals.

It is ironic that hospitals that are supposed to stop germs and viruses have become a breeding ground for contagious diseases, but the reality calls upon the government and the medical community to enhance infection control at hospitals.

Some point to problems with the way Koreans use hospitals. For instance, family members accompany people visiting hospitals ― for treatment, diagnoses and tests ― and care for patients who are hospitalized. It is common to see people even with infants and children freely visiting their family members and friends in hospital.

This, however, does not absolve the affected hospitals of responsibility for failing to control infections within their boundaries. It is indeed disturbing if such highly regarded hospitals as the Samsung Medical Center and the Asan Medical Center were so ill-prepared for handling patients with contagious diseases.

The SMC, in particular, faces the danger of eroding its reputation as a world-class general hospital with top-notch equipment and personnel, as it has become the largest source of MERS infections in Korea, with 55 cases. The SMC accused authorities of failing to alert hospitals in time, but it cannot shrug off its own responsibility.

A report by the Korean Society for Nosocomial Infection Control said that 6 out of every 100 Korean patients gets an illness from the hospital. Another report estimated that about 15,000 patients of chronic illnesses die of nosocomial infections ― meaning those caught at hospital ― each year.

The MERS outbreak should push the government and the medical community to strengthen infection controls at hospitals and change the nation’s “hospital culture,” as well.