◀ Anchor ▶
Not long ago, we delivered the unfortunate news that a 2-year-old child in Incheon died after being left alone at home for three days.
Again, it was confirmed that the government’s crisis warning system was not working properly.
Regular vaccinations and health checkups, which are one of the indicators for discovering at-risk children to prevent child abuse, have not been received for over a year, but were omitted from the survey.
Reporter Lee Jun-beom covered the story exclusively.
◀ Report ▶
A mother who left her two-year-old child to die said she was out for a while to earn money.
[숨진 아이 엄마 / 지난 4일]
″I am very sorry. (What part are you sorry about? Didn’t you think that leaving the house for three days would go wrong?)″
However, it was confirmed that there was a suspicion of abuse from before.
It was found that the child who died had never received the required vaccinations since the age of 4 months.
You haven’t taken any necessary measures for your health.
Also, there was no medical record from the hospital for over a year.
[임현택/대한소아청소년과의사회장]
″This is the time when I visit the pediatrician the most. There are even kids who come almost every day. Being vaccinated and not having a pediatric medical record is proof that parents are clearly neglecting their children.”
This was detected by the at-risk child discovery system operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to prevent child abuse.
In April of last year, information such as non-payment of health insurance premiums and financial overdue was posted on regular vaccination failures, and last month, crisis signals such as non-treatment at medical institutions and non-payment of national pension and health insurance premiums emerged.
However, they were not classified as subject to action.
Currently, the government’s at-risk child discovery system evaluates the risk with artificial intelligence using 44 indicators, and in the case of dead children, it is judged that the risk is lower than in previous cases.
As it was omitted from the target list, the local government could not take action through on-site confirmation.
[지자체 관계자]
″(The government) When the investigation list is notified, all units go out. But if we don’t get notified, we won’t know.”
It was said that it would strengthen the excavation of crisis targets every time an incident broke out, but the limits of the system were revealed again.
[인재근/더불어민주당 의원]
″The system needs to be modified in a way that more actively checks the field, weighting risk information in detail according to age.″
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it would make up for conducting a separate investigation for children under the age of two with crisis information such as hospital treatment records.
This is Lee Jun-beom from MBC News.
Video editing: Jo Min-woo
