[The Editors' Verdict]Public Postpartum Care Centers: Necessary, But Not Essential

Kyung-ho Lee, Head of Biohealth Department

In Jecheon City, Chungbuk Province, a public postpartum care center will open in January 2025. It will be a two-story building with 13 rooms. A total of 7 billion KRW will be invested, including 4.2 billion KRW from the Local Extinction Response Fund and 2.8 billion KRW from Jecheon City’s budget. This will be the first public postpartum care center in Chungbuk. There are 11 private postpartum care centers in Chungbuk, including 10 in Cheongju and 1 in Chungju. The other 9 cities and counties have none. Residents of Boeun, Okcheon, and Yeongdong have no choice but to travel to places like Daejeon for childbirth and postpartum care. Residents of Jecheon and Danyang have gone as far as Wonju in Gangwon Province. In Jecheon’s case, half of all newborns were born at obstetrics and gynecology clinics in other regions.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of the end of December 2022, there were 475 postpartum care centers nationwide (excluding those temporarily or permanently closed). Of these, only 17 are public. Seoul (Songpa), Gyeonggi (Yeoju), Ulsan, and Chungnam (Hongseong) each have one, while Jeonnam has five, Gangwon four, Gyeongbuk two, Gyeongnam one, and Jeju one. A 2020 survey conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare targeting 3,127 mothers who gave birth found that 8 out of 10 (multiple responses allowed) used postpartum care centers, with an average stay of 30.2 days and an average cost of 2.43 million KRW. This is a considerable amount. Because of this, most respondents said that financial support for postpartum care center fees is necessary.

Recently, public postpartum care centers have become a hot topic in politics and local communities. Kim Young-sun, chairman of the National Assembly’s Special Committee on Population Crisis and a member of the People Power Party, along with other party members, proposed an amendment to the “Maternal and Child Health Act” mandating the establishment of full-time public postpartum care centers operating 24/7, 365 days a year. The amendment requires local governments to establish public postpartum care centers, provides national subsidies for installation and operation costs, and mandates full or partial fee waivers for vulnerable groups. The Seoul Metropolitan Council passed an ordinance to create a municipal postpartum care center, and Jeonbuk Province decided through an ordinance to build public postpartum care centers in 10 cities and counties.

No matter how good the purpose, caution is needed when creating and operating laws and systems. First is the cost issue. The Seodaemun-gu public postpartum care center, scheduled to open in the second half of the year (12 rooms, serving 288 users annually), will require an investment of 13.8 billion KRW over the next five years, fully funded by the district budget. Using the Jecheon model, installing one public postpartum care center in each of the 229 local governments nationwide would cost more than 1.5 trillion KRW. The Songpa-gu public postpartum care center in Seoul is popular but runs an annual deficit of over 1 billion KRW. Some local governments have also withdrawn plans to build public postpartum care centers due to cost concerns.

In a situation where private postpartum care centers are widespread, building public postpartum care centers indiscriminately in both urban and rural areas risks duplication and overinvestment. Opposition from the private sector, which has led the postpartum care market, is also expected. A district council member in Suseong-gu, Daegu, argued for the establishment of a public postpartum care center, saying, “There is no public postpartum care center in this education hub.” Currently, Daegu has 22 postpartum care centers, with 7 private centers operating in Suseong-gu alone.

When establishing social security systems like postpartum care centers, consultation with the government (Ministry of Health and Welfare) is necessary. In 2015, Seongnam City attempted to build three public postpartum care centers using city funds. The central government rejected the plan, considering the status of private postpartum care centers in Seongnam (24 centers, now 21) and the occupancy rate (61.2% as of December 2014). Public postpartum care centers that assist with “postpartum care + childcare” are indeed a measure to respond to ultra-low birth rates and local population extinction. However, it is desirable to prioritize implementation in financially constrained areas, regions with population decline, vulnerable groups, and socially disadvantaged people, taking into account financial conditions, regional characteristics, and competition with the private sector. Lee Kyung-ho, Head of Biohealth Department

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