As South Korea struggles to contain an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome that has infected close to 100 people, the country’s health care system has come under scrutiny. Experts have said that the MERS outbreak may have been fueled by a hospital system that encourages family members to take on nursing duties, reported Choe Sang-Hun, a New York Times correspondent based in Seoul.

Responding on Facebook and in the comments section that accompanies the article, readers who either live or have spent time in South Korea shared their experiences of the hospitals there. Readers discussed how overcrowding and the obligations of relatives have affected them and their families. The responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

Twelve people and one sink

I spent over three weeks in a hospital in Seoul, much of the time in a six-person room. Family members were indeed expected to perform many of the duties we would expect from nurses in the United States. In fact every patient’s bed had a small brown cot underneath for a family member to sleep on. So in an average room at my hospital you could have up to 12 people sleeping in a room with one shared sink. It’s a crowd.

— 브렌도

Assistance from the maintenance man and Dad

My wife gave birth to our son in a hospital in South Korea. It was both charming and scary. After she got a C-section, she was transported to her room by the maintenance man (no mask, no scrubs, etc.). I was required to assist in moving her from the gurney to the bed. It wasn’t very graceful....

— Steve Stimmel