Flu Outbreak... Citizens Angry Over Closure of Public Night Pharmacies

Project halted due to budget shortage... "Can't we avoid pain at night?"
Pharmacists' Association: "Private pharmacies without public interest, what if they don't operate at night?"
Seoul City: "Establishing and monitoring night and holiday medical system"

Public night pharmacies in Seoul that operate during nighttime hours are set to cease operations starting next year due to budget shortages, raising growing concerns about gaps in nighttime medical services. While the Seoul city government maintains that there will be little inconvenience by guiding citizens to private pharmacies open at night, many private night pharmacies close at night due to personal reasons, fueling worries that the inconvenience and harm will fall directly on the citizens.

Kwon Young-hee, president of the Seoul Pharmaceutical Association, criticized in an interview with MBC Radio's 'Kim Jong-bae's Focus' on the 21st, calling it "a city administration with no concept of public health care" and questioned, "What should we do if children get sick at night?"

The public night pharmacy project, which began in September 2020, keeps public pharmacies open from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. the next day, allowing citizens to safely and properly purchase medicines during nighttime on weekdays, weekends, and holidays. Currently, there are a total of 33 public night pharmacies operating in Seoul.

However, Seoul city has decided to discontinue the public night pharmacy project next year due to a decrease in next year's budget.

Mapo-gu Public Night Pharmacy. [Image provided by Mapo-gu]

Citizens are concerned about the nighttime medical service gap. Online communities have voiced criticisms such as, "Should we not get sick after 10 p.m.?" and "Is it right to cut taxes on something important for public health?"

Seoul city refutes these concerns, stating that there will be no medical service gap even if the project is discontinued. In a clarification released the day before, the city explained, "There are a total of 177 pharmacies (including public night pharmacies) operating in Seoul city after 10 p.m.," and added, "Even if public night pharmacies are discontinued from the beginning of the year, we are guiding citizens to nighttime operating pharmacies through the emergency medical portal so that they can find them without inconvenience."

However, there are criticisms that private night pharmacies cannot guarantee operation due to a lack of public responsibility. President Kwon pointed out, "I called all of them from 10 p.m. to after 11 p.m., and about one-third of the 177 pharmacies guided by Seoul city either did not answer the phone or were closed," adding, "Public night pharmacies are required to stay open until 1 a.m., but private pharmacies do not have guaranteed public responsibility, so they can close for personal reasons."

Especially now, respiratory infectious diseases such as the flu are prevalent. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported that in the second week of December (December 3?9, the 49th week of this year), the number of patients showing influenza-like symptoms per 1,000 outpatients (influenza-like illness rate) was 61.3, the highest since 2019. If public night pharmacies do not operate from the new year, citizens who need prescriptions during late-night hours will inevitably face inconvenience.

Number of Pharmacies Operating at Night in Seoul. [Image provided by Seoul City]

The background for discontinuing the public night pharmacy project is 'budget shortage.' Next year's Seoul city budget was finalized at 45.7405 trillion won, about 1.4 trillion won less than this year, leading to cuts in budgets for some projects including public night pharmacies.

However, President Kwon also criticized this, saying, "About 1.4 billion won per year can support the operation of 33 public night pharmacies," and added, "Seoul city spends 45 trillion won annually, but including all operating funds, the total is about 64.5 trillion won. Yet they are stopping this to save 1.4 billion won, which shows a city administration with no concept of public health care."

Meanwhile, Seoul city has established the 'Seoul-type Nighttime and Holiday Pediatric Medical System' for nighttime and holiday medical care, designating 30 medical institutions near pharmacies. The city also stated it will continuously monitor to prevent nighttime medical service gaps and maintain ongoing consultations with related professional organizations such as the Pharmaceutical Association. Some districts have decided to operate their own public night pharmacies. Mapo-gu plans to operate the 'Mapo-type Public Night Pharmacy,' supported by district funds, starting next year. To improve accessibility, two pharmacies near subway stations have been selected for operation.

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