Seoul National University Hospital, Ajou University Hospital, and 3 Others Designated as Additional 5 Regional Emergency Medical Centers

Operation of 44 Regional Emergency Centers Nationwide

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on the 1st that it has additionally designated five medical institutions as Regional Emergency Medical Centers: Seoul National University Hospital (Seoul Northwest), Ajou University Hospital (Gyeonggi Southwest), National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital (Gyeonggi Northwest), Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital (Busan), and Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital (Chungnam Cheonan).

Seoul National University Hospital exterior view. [Photo by Seoul National University Hospital]

This designation was made through a public recruitment targeting two regions (Seoul Northwest, Busan) where the appropriate number of centers was not designated in last year's 2023?2025 Regional Emergency Medical Center re-designation results, and three regions where additional designation was deemed necessary by the Central Emergency Medical Committee due to changes in the emergency medical environment following the revision of the Emergency Medical Service Act Enforcement Rules in February this year.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare conducted on-site evaluations of the applying medical institutions to verify compliance with legal designation criteria (facilities, personnel, equipment, etc.), and comprehensively assessed emergency patient treatment performance, appropriateness of operation plans, and contribution to regional emergency medical services. Based on the scores, one Regional Emergency Medical Center was additionally selected per region in order of highest scores.

Among the additionally selected institutions, two centers (Seoul National University Hospital, Ajou University Hospital) met the designation criteria and were issued designation certificates and began operations on the same day. The three centers that have not yet met the designation criteria (Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Inje University Haeundae Paik Hospital) will complete the required legal facilities, personnel, and equipment by April 30 next year, undergo an additional on-site evaluation, and then be finally designated and begin operations.

Accordingly, the total number of Regional Emergency Medical Centers nationwide will increase to 44. Park Hyang, Director of Public Health Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated, "Through this additional designation of Regional Emergency Medical Centers, we expect improved emergency medical accessibility for critically ill emergency patients nationwide," and added, "We will strive not only to quantitatively expand Regional Emergency Medical Centers but also to qualitatively strengthen the treatment functions for critically ill emergency patients and improve the emergency medical system."

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