Minister of Health and Welfare Visits Yeongju... Community Health Branches to Become 'Outposts' for Local Healthcare

Jeong Eun-kyung, Minister of Health and Welfare, visited Yeongju City in North Gyeongsang Province to review measures for strengthening the public healthcare system in medically underserved areas.

On April 24, Yeongju City announced that Minister Jeong visited the Yeongju City Public Health Center, where she received a briefing on the progress of restructuring community health branch functions and listened to on-site feedback regarding support measures for medically underserved regions.

Jeung Eunkyeong, Minister of Health and Welfare, Visits Medically Underserved Areas [Photo by Yeongju City]

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The visit was attended by Hwang Myung-seok, Vice Governor for Administrative Affairs of North Gyeongsang Province, Eom Tae-hyun, Acting Mayor of Yeongju City, as well as heads of public health centers from cities and counties across the province. They discussed ways to strengthen public healthcare in response to the dual challenges of population aging and declining access to medical services.

The Yeongju City Public Health Center has been working to restructure its community health branches, shifting their focus from traditional treatment-centered operations to prevention and health management, in line with local characteristics and resident needs. In particular, it is expanding chronic disease management, home visit health services, and community-based health promotion programs as it establishes a health management system centered on residents' daily lives.

The briefing covered the current status of staffing at community health branches, service delivery records, the results of the restructuring efforts, and future plans. On-site, participants also shared opinions on structural challenges facing medically underserved areas, such as securing medical personnel, improving facilities, and enhancing service accessibility.

Eom Tae-hyun, Acting Mayor of Yeongju City, emphasized, "Yeongju is a region facing both rapid aging and issues with medical accessibility, making the role of public healthcare more important than ever. We will work closely with the government to strengthen health and medical services tailored to the needs of our community."

Minister Jeong then visited the Anjeong-myeon Community Health Branch to inspect the site and encourage the staff. She also attended the "Medical Innovation Committee Regional Roundtable" held at Yeongju Red Cross Hospital, where she listened to voices from the local community concerning efforts to address medical service gaps.

Yeongju City plans to use the restructuring of community health branch functions as a foundation to reduce health disparities between regions, while simultaneously expanding healthcare infrastructure and improving service accessibility to build a sustainable local public healthcare system.

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