Gimhae City Begins 'Robot Rehabilitation Therapy' to Reduce Medical Expenses for Socially Vulnerable Groups

Gimhae City in Gyeongnam Province will provide rehabilitation treatment services using robots to socially vulnerable groups within the region.

On the 11th, the city announced that it will officially operate the "Robot Rehabilitation Service for Socially Vulnerable Groups in the Region," a project funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement.

According to the city, this project is led by the Gimhae Biomedical Industry Promotion Agency and involves local hospitals and robot companies such as Gimhae Hansol Rehabilitation Nursing Hospital, P&S Mechanics, and Hexa Human Care.

A total of 420 million KRW will be invested, including 200 million KRW from the national government, 200 million KRW from the city, and 20 million KRW from private capital, to establish a regional rehabilitation treatment service infrastructure and reduce treatment costs for socially vulnerable groups.

Gimhae City Hall, Gyeongnam.
Photo by Lee Seryeong

The main project details include ▲introducing one pediatric gait rehabilitation training robot and one adult upper limb isokinetic rehabilitation robot ▲50% reduction in rehabilitation treatment costs for socially vulnerable groups ▲providing systematic medical services by linking rehabilitation treatment teams and medical cooperation centers within participating hospitals.

The city expects that this project will benefit elderly people aged 65 and over, people with disabilities, and children and adolescents, and that the introduction of domestically produced rehabilitation robots will revitalize the domestic medical robot industry.

A city official said, “The demand for rehabilitation treatment for children with developmental disabilities is increasing, but there is no pediatric rehabilitation treatment service infrastructure in the area at all. We expect that this project will reduce social costs such as transportation and waiting times for pediatric gait rehabilitation robot treatment, and further improve the level of our city’s medical services.”

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