Namhaean Namjung Region Adopts Joint Proposal to Host Police Hospital Branch in Southern Area

Namhaean Namjung Region Development Association, Optimal 'Southern Region' for National Balanced Development and Prevention of Overlapping Construction of National Medical Facilities

[Boseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Cheon-seok] The Namhaean Southern Central Region Development Council (Chairman, Boseong County Governor Kim Cheol-woo) announced on the 3rd that it adopted a joint petition on the 28th to attract a southern branch of the Police Hospital to provide medical services in medically underserved areas and promote national balanced development.

The local governments of the Namhaean Southern Central Region Development Council that applied for the nationwide public contest to establish a branch of the Police Hospital?aimed at providing medical services to police officers outside the metropolitan area, responding to national disasters outside the metropolitan area, and offering balanced national medical services?are Yeosu City, Sacheon City, and Hadong County.

The joint petition adopted on this day stated that since the Police Hospital headquarters is located in the metropolitan area (Songpa, Seoul) and the National Fire Service Hospital, scheduled to open in June 2025, is in the central region (Eumseong, Chungbuk), establishing a branch of the Police Hospital in the southern region, which currently lacks national medical facilities, would prevent redundant construction of national medical facilities with the same functions, thereby contributing to national fiscal efficiency and balanced national development.

About 42% of police and fire officials nationwide and 36% of the entire population of South Korea work in the southern region. By establishing a branch of the Police Hospital on the Namhaean coast to provide rapid emergency medical support for the Coast Guard, medical accessibility will improve, and relative feelings of neglect can be alleviated, the petition emphasized.

Furthermore, the southern region is argued to be the optimal location for a public medical facility that not only supports police medical services but also provides medical services to the public, strengthening essential medical infrastructure in medically underserved areas and promoting regional balanced development.

The heads of the local governments emphasized in the joint declaration that by establishing the facility in the southern region, they can realize the shared vision of East-West harmony and regional balanced development in the Namhaean area, resolve the national agenda of metropolitan area concentration and one-sided centralization, and support the establishment of a super-regional alliance, thereby achieving Yeongnam and Honam harmony and national unity.

Meanwhile, the Namhaean Southern Central Region Development Council is an administrative consultative body established in 2011 for East-West harmony, joint development, and mutual cooperation between Yeongnam and Honam. It consists of nine cities and counties in Jeonnam and Gyeongnam regions: Yeosu City, Suncheon City, Gwangyang City, Goheung County, Boseong County, Jinju City, Sacheon City, Hadong County, and Namhae County.

Boseong=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Cheon-seok hss79@asiae.co.kr

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