Deadly ‘ambulance ping-pong’

An ambulance waiting at the gate as it arrives at a hospital in Seongnam, South Korea. Paramedics must first call the hospital and receive permission to go there. They can be rejected by multiple emergency rooms. — Jun Michael Park/The New York Times

FIVE days after four-year-old Kim Dong-hee had his tonsils removed, he started vomiting blood. He passed out before an ambulance arrived.

As he was being raced to the hospital where he had his tonsillectomy, near Busan, South Korea’s second-largest city, doctors told the paramedics that the emergency room was full. The nearest available ER was more than 15km away.