Doctor in Korea Defies Quarantine and Attends Meeting Exposing Over 1,500 People To MERS Virus

It is pretty bad that a healthcare provider would violate a quarantine and put this many people at risk of contracting the MERS virus:

A medical doctor in Seoul came into contact with over 1,000 citizens while infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the city government said Thursday, sparking concerns of the further spread of the deadly virus.

The doctor, who works for a large general hospital in the capital city, attended large-scale events on the weekend, even after he was ordered into quarantine last week for showing suspected symptoms, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

“On Saturday, the doctor attended the union meeting for the reconstruction of an apartment complex in Gaepo-dong, Seoul, which was attended by a total of 1,565 local people,” Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said in an emergency briefing.

“He also attended two meetings of medical societies he is affiliated with on Saturday and Sunday, and visited several other public places,” he added.

On Monday, he was confirmed as testing positive for MERS and sent to a public facility for MERS patients. He contracted the virus after coming into contact with the country’s 14th MERS patient at the hospital where he works, according to the city officials.

Criticizing the central government for not sharing the relevant information with the municipal government and not doing enough to contain the virus, the mayor vowed “to devise the city’s own countermeasures to protect citizens.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the MERS virus has now killed 3 people in Korea and continues to spread.  I don’t know how the Korean medical community works, but it seems to me this should be something that should be grounds for removing his medical license.