Park Young-sun, "Establishing University Hospital-Level Medical Services Within a 21-Minute Living Zone"

Seoul's Fourth Major Transition Pledge
'21-Minute Compact City, Subscription Economy, Vertical Gardens' Followed by 'One-Stop Healthcare'
Establishing the 'Seoul Bio Health Cluster'

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Ju-yeon] Park Young-sun, the Democratic Party of Korea's preliminary candidate for Seoul mayor, announced on the 16th that she will establish a 'One-Stop Healthcare Center' to provide medical services equivalent to university hospitals within a 21-minute living radius.

On the same day, Park held the fourth non-face-to-face policy presentation for the 'Great Transformation of Seoul' at the Anguk Building camp in Jongno-gu, stating, "We will achieve a major transformation in public health centered on one-stop healthcare for the elderly, disabled, and seniors who have suffered difficulties due to COVID-19 in a 21-minute compact city."

The announced 'One-Stop Healthcare City' plan includes installing healthcare centers within a 21-minute living radius to allow comprehensive medical treatment in one place. It supports local clinics and pharmacies to act as primary care providers and enables sharing of medical data from large hospitals, reducing the inconvenience for patients who otherwise have to visit multiple hospitals.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, by establishing a regional public medical system, confirmed patients can be isolated and treated early in the initial stages of new infectious diseases. The plan includes specializing and regionalizing public healthcare, strengthening large municipal hospitals, and transforming public health centers' functions from treatment to prevention, health management, and infectious disease response capabilities.

To this end, the plan actively considers mid- to long-term measures such as ▲ upgrading Seoul Medical Center and Boramae Hospital to advanced general hospitals ▲ enhancing Seoul Medical Center's capabilities by establishing a regional emergency medical center, a regional cancer center, expanding and remodeling intensive care units to strengthen treatment capacity for severe infectious disease patients ▲ establishing a Safe Respiratory Center and a regional cancer center at Seoul Boramae Hospital ▲ developing Seoul Northwestern Hospital into a large-scale general hospital in the northwest region ▲ transforming municipal hospitals into residential-type public nursing hospitals rather than simply inpatient nursing hospitals.

A 'Bio Health Cluster' linked with large regional hospitals will also be established. The system will be built to process and refine hospital medical data with personal information protection measures through a data platform, enabling collaboration with bio companies to develop customized disease treatment technologies, thereby creating an ecosystem.

To achieve this, the plan is to designate a base hospital in the Gangbuk area to build the cluster and combine it with a bio company participation zone. This is expected to lead to balanced development between Seoul's Gangnam and Gangbuk areas based on the world-class medical research capabilities of the Gangbuk region. Furthermore, a healthcare town will be created next to the base hospital within the 21-minute living radius, promoting one-stop healthcare with residential nursing hospitals staffed by caregivers.

Park emphasized, "The COVID-19 infectious disease has frozen the lives and daily routines of many citizens," adding, "I will definitely achieve a major transformation in Seoul's public health."

The event was broadcast live on YouTube and Facebook. Attendees at the venue included Jeong Kyung-doo, former Minister of National Defense and policy advisory group leader for Park Young-sun; Cho Myung-rae, former Minister of Environment; Park Yang-woo, former Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; National Assembly members Kang Byung-won and Shin Hyun-young; and Park Jong-hoon, director of Korea University Anam Hospital. Non-face-to-face participants included National Assembly member Lee Soo-jin, Celltrion Chairman Seo Jung-jin, Severance Hospital Neurosurgery Professor Ha Yoon, and Seoul National University Professor and CHA Hospital Director Roh Dong-young, who engaged in Q&A sessions.

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