Seoul City Launches 'Safe Hospital Companion for Single-Person Households' Service This Month... Apply via Call Center or Website

Hospital registration, payment, admission, discharge procedures, and pharmacy visits accompanied anywhere across Seoul
Supporting single-parent, grandparent-grandchild families, and all age groups of single-person households

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 2nd that it will start the ‘Seoul Single-Person Household Hospital Safety Escort Service’ from this month for single-person households who suddenly fall ill and need to go to the hospital but have no family or acquaintances to take care of them.

The service can be easily applied for through a call center or the website. Within three hours, an escort manager such as a caregiver will visit the location requested by the citizen and provide the desired service. The service broadly covers single-person households of all ages, as well as citizens who cannot receive family support, such as single-parent families and grandparent-grandchild families without family members.

The ‘Single-Person Household Hospital Safety Escort Service’ is a ‘Door to Door’ service that accompanies the user like a guardian throughout the entire process from leaving home to going to the hospital and returning home. Support is provided from departure and return accompaniment to hospital reception, payment, admission, discharge, and pharmacy visits. If mobility is difficult, assistance is provided during movement, and if the citizen wishes, accompaniment during medical examinations is also possible. The service is available anywhere throughout Seoul.

The service fee is also affordable at 5,000 KRW per hour, allowing citizens who previously could not use hospital escort services due to economic burdens to use it without worry. Service hours are from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, and on weekends, it is available only by prior reservation.

This project aims to assist with the difficulties of ‘coping when suddenly ill or in an emergency,’ which is a major concern for the rapidly increasing single-person households in Seoul (approximately 1.39 million households), the largest proportion among Seoul households. It is one of Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s first pledges for single-person household support measures.

Lee Hae-seon, Head of the Single-Person Household Special Measures Promotion Team, said, "We hope the Single-Person Household Hospital Escort Service will be a practical help to citizens who find it difficult to go to the hospital alone when suddenly ill," and added, "We will listen carefully to citizens’ voices to improve policies and do our best to ensure there are no inconveniences in using the service so that this project can be stably established in the future."

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