Overview
- Government ministers presented a multi-part strategy at Cheong Wa Dae to strengthen regional, essential and public healthcare so people can get routine, emergency and critical care in their home areas.
- The plan includes a 1.2 trillion won special account for regional healthcare in 2027 and a pledged 3.6 trillion won a year through the National Health Insurance to raise reimbursements for critical services.
- Officials said regional national university hospitals will be upgraded to match Seoul’s top five hospitals and that public hospitals and networks for emergency, trauma, maternal and pediatric care will be expanded.
- Longer-term reforms would boost the number of doctors outside the capital through a regional doctor program, a new national graduate medical school and the creation of medical schools in underserved regions.
- A Presidential AI committee proposed national medical data sharing, an AI platform to connect public hospitals, AI-assisted diagnostics at clinics and real-time emergency routing, while regulatory, technical and reimbursement details remain to be worked out.