Gwangju City Launches Feasibility Study for Gwangju Medical Center

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City held a kickoff briefing session for the ‘Feasibility Study on Gwangju Medical Center’ on the afternoon of the 10th at the city hall small conference room.

At the briefing session, Kim Jong-hyo, Deputy Mayor, and city officials received reports from the entrusted institution, Gachon University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, on the project goals and direction, task execution plan, and schedule, followed by a Q&A session.

The feasibility study will begin with this kickoff briefing and continue until October, conducting investigations and analyses including the basic status analysis for project promotion, medical center location, expected medical service area and appropriate bed capacity, medical center operation plan, and required budget.

Gwangju City plans to form the ‘Gwangju Medical Center Establishment Promotion Committee’ within this month, consisting of city council members, civic groups, and health care experts, to reflect the opinions of citizens and experts in the study contents. In this process, a broad public discussion targeting citizens will also be conducted regarding the medical center’s scale, site, and medical departments.

Gwangju City has been promoting the establishment of the Gwangju Medical Center since last year through public-private joint forums, visits to government ministries, and the formation of internal collaboration teams, as the need to establish an essential public medical system has increased and the importance of regional base medical institutions for strengthening the regional public medical system has grown.

The establishment of the Gwangju Medical Center considers four major aspects: medical resource supply, completeness of the regional public medical system, reduction of medical utilization disparities and strengthening of the medical safety net, and preventive chronic disease management projects. Ultimately, the goal is to secure the health rights of Gwangju citizens.

Once the medical center site, scale, and project costs are finalized through the feasibility study, Gwangju City plans to submit a request for exemption from the preliminary feasibility study to central government ministries such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to expedite the establishment of the medical center.

In this regard, since last month, continuous consultations have been held with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and local National Assembly offices. Joint forums with local National Assembly members are being held to foster public opinion for the long-awaited establishment of the Gwangju Medical Center. Additionally, solidarity with Ulsan Metropolitan City, which is currently promoting its own medical center, will be strengthened to fully focus on obtaining the exemption from the preliminary feasibility study.

Deputy Mayor Kim Jong-hyo stated, “Through the establishment of the Gwangju Medical Center, we plan to enhance capabilities to respond to disaster situations and large-scale infectious diseases, operate integrated public health medical support teams and infectious disease management support teams, and establish connectivity between local residents’ health management and medical treatment.” He added, “Above all, we will do our best to build a better public health medical system to protect and safeguard the precious value of citizens’ lives.”

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