Ministry of Health and Welfare expands essential specialized care project, adding alcohol treatment as new category

A hospital emergency room at night [Yonhap]
A hospital emergency room at night [Yonhap]

The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Tuesday designated eight new hospitals to join its essential specialized care project, which supports around-the-clock treatment in specific medical fields to strengthen regional healthcare.

The project supports medical institutions in maintaining 24-hour care systems in designated specialty areas, even if they do not operate full emergency departments.

The government has supported a total of 29 hospitals across five fields — burns, digit reattachment, obstetrics, pediatrics and cerebrovascular care — since the project launched in July last year. The program runs through the end of 2028.

The eight newly designated institutions are divided by specialty: two in pediatrics — Gwangju Suwan Mirae Children's Hospital and Seoul Family Hospital — one in cerebrovascular care, Seoul Metropolitan Government Seoul Northern Hospital, and five in alcohol addiction treatment — Dasarang Hospital, Dasarang Jungang Hospital, Aju Pyeonhan Hospital, Segwang Hospital and Mirae-ro Hospital under the Minhyeon Medical Foundation.

Alcohol treatment has been added as a new "psychiatric emergency" category. The ministry said alcohol-related problems carry a high risk of escalating into suicide attempts or violence, making round-the-clock response essential.

The newly designated hospitals must maintain 24-hour care systems in their respective specialty areas starting Wednesday.

The institutions will receive a "24-hour care support payment" to cover the cost of keeping medical staff on call, as well as performance-based payments assessed on criteria including the quality of their 24-hour care, emergency response and care coordination.

The 24-hour care support payment amounts to about 500 million won ($324,000) per institution, while the performance-based payment ranges from 600 million won to 960 million won per institution.


thlee@heraldcorp.com