'Gwangju City Medical Center' to be Established in Gwangju Sangmu District Urban Convergence Special Zone

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 1st that the site for the construction of Gwangju City Medical Center has been finally decided within the ‘Sangmu District Urban Convergence Special Zone Pilot Project Area,’ located on the boundary between Seo-gu and Gwangsan-gu.

A special zone development project equipped with complex infrastructure linking life, work, and leisure is currently in the process of establishing a basic plan.

The medical center is planned to be built with approximately 35 billion KRW in project costs and will have around 350 beds.

The construction site was decided by comprehensively considering accessibility, economic feasibility, expandability, urgency, ease of development, medical vulnerability areas, convenience of emergency patient transport, and public transportation accessibility, based on the government’s medical service area classification, advice from the ‘Gwangju Metropolitan City Medical Center Establishment Promotion Committee’ composed of citizen representatives, city council members, and experts, proposals from the ‘Gwangju Metropolitan City Public Health Support Group,’ and review of commissioned research.

With the final decision on the construction site, the promotion of building the Gwangju City Medical Center has gained momentum. This provides a foundation to focus efforts on obtaining an exemption from the government’s preliminary feasibility study.

Going forward, Gwangju City plans to actively cooperate with Ulsan Metropolitan City, which is a special/metropolitan city without a medical center, local National Assembly members, the city council, and civic groups to make every effort to secure an exemption from the government’s preliminary feasibility study.

Kim Jonghyo, Deputy Mayor for Administration, stated, “The Gwangju Medical Center will protect the lives of our citizens in emergencies and disasters such as infectious diseases, and will serve as the citizens’ primary care physician, working together with the community to eliminate disparities in medical use by region and income.” He added, “As a core pillar of the public health care system, it is expected to contribute by providing a test-bed for attracting companies in the AI healthcare sector. We will respond with full force to secure the government’s exemption from the preliminary feasibility study.”

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