Jeonnam Province Secures 11.3 Billion Won in National Funding for Rural Medical Service Improvement Project

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Jeonnam Province announced on the 15th that it secured the largest amount of national funding among metropolitan local governments, totaling 13.1 billion KRW, as a result of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's '2021 Rural and Fishing Village Medical Service Improvement Project' contest.

The Rural and Fishing Village Medical Service Improvement Project supports the improvement of poor medical environments in aging rural health institutions, reinforcement of functions such as medical equipment and vehicles, and repair costs for hospital ships used for itinerant medical services in island areas.

It was introduced in 1994 to provide better essential health care services to residents living in rural and fishing villages.

In this contest, the province had projects selected including ▲ three cases such as replacement construction and repair costs for hospital ships ▲ facility improvements at 23 locations including Wolya Health Center in Hampyeong County and Sepo Health Clinic in Yeosu City ▲ expansion of medical equipment at 137 locations including physical therapy equipment ▲ purchase of 14 health and quarantine vehicles.

In particular, the province newly secured 8 billion KRW in national funding to build a replacement vessel due to the aging hull of the hospital ship Jeonnam 511, which provides free itinerant medical services to residents of uninhabited island areas within the province.

This achievement came after multiple visits to the National Assembly, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and Ministry of Strategy and Finance.

The province plans to build an eco-friendly hospital ship by 2022 with a total of about 13 billion KRW from national and provincial funds. Once completed, it is expected to provide high-quality public medical services to island residents.

Kang Young-gu, Director of the Health and Welfare Bureau of Jeonnam Province, said, “Jeonnam has many medically vulnerable areas such as islands, so continuous improvement of health care environments and infrastructure is necessary. We will continue to actively identify and improve medical blind spots to enhance accessibility to public health care services.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.