<Anchor>
Along with this, the government has announced that it will increase the number of places where children can receive emergency treatment and create enough maternity hospitals in the provinces.
Most of the government support measures are about compensating for hospital losses.
<Reporter> This
is the only children's hospital designated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Gangbuk, Seoul.
At 2:00 PM, it's the busiest time, but the waiting room is full.
[Kim Jeong/Seoul Nowon-gu: (My child) was hospitalized because of enteritis, so I thought that part of the hospitalization room was okay...
.]
The night treatment, which runs from 7 to 10 p.m., is really crowded, and reservations close in 10 minutes.
Because there is no late-night emergency care.
[Jeong Seong-gwan/Director of Children's Hospital: It is not possible to find personnel capable of operating an emergency
room, and the hospital cannot be operated because the number of patients visiting the hospital after 10:00 is small.]
We decided to add 4 more, increase the cost of night and holiday treatment, and compensate for the damages of the Children's Hospital for Severe Diseases.
However, it is doubtful whether it will be possible to stop the suspension of operation of pediatric inpatient rooms that have spread to university hospitals.
[Kim Ji-hong/Chairman of the Korean Academy of Pediatrics: It's not enough to be able to use more people like emergency doctors or ward specialists.]
In order to strengthen childbirth hospitals, we decided to raise fees by 100% each according to high risk, vulnerable areas for childbirth, and pandemic.
[Cho Kyu-hong/Minister of Health and Welfare: To ensure that medical institutions performing high-risk childbirth can stably treat mothers…
.]
However, it is unclear whether raising the fee will turn back patients who go to the big city in search of a large and safe obstetrics and gynecology clinic.
[Koo Jae-seok/Director of Taebaek Public Childbirth Hospital: (Pregnant women using Taebaek Childbirth Hospital) average about one person per month.
It would be nice if (number) increased.
It's for a group of medical doctors.
What does it have to do with raising the number from the patient's point of view?] The Ministry of Health and
Welfare announced that this time it was only the first announcement and that it would collect public opinion later.
(Video coverage: Jeon Jeon Bae, Video editing: Jin-Won Kim, CG: Jegal-Chan, VJ: Shin So-Young)
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<Anchor>
Let's organize this with Cho Dong-chan, a medical reporter.
Q. Why did the medical community react so coldly?
[Cho Dong-chan/Medical reporter (specialist): Let's look into the pediatric policy right away.
If you hospitalize a newborn under the age of 1, you are currently paying 30% more for hospitalization, but you said you would increase this to 50%.
However, the pediatric emergency room and hospitalization room stopped because there was a deficit in the treatment of children over the age of 2, especially between the ages of 6 and 8.
It didn't scratch the most itchy part.
Also, surgery accounts for 80% of emergency surgeries, but it is the field voice that the voice of the surgeon is not reflected.
However, the policy of subsidizing expensive medicines for patients with rare and incurable diseases, which eliminates children who cannot receive treatment due to lack of money, is evaluated as a gem.]
Q. Is essential medical care strengthened only by an increase in the number?
[Jo Dong-chan/Medical reporter (specialist): There is only one delivery hospital in Taebaek.
It is a public childbirth hospital that the government spends 500 million won every year.
Childbirth and hospitalization are free, but about 50 babies have been born in the last three years.
It is a number that 90% of pregnant women in Taebaek City turned away from.
Building a hospital in a vulnerable area and raising numbers doesn't mean that essential health care will be strengthened right away, right?
The government should take a good look at what the people want.]
Q. Reinforcing essential medical care, with what kind of money?
[Cho Dong-chan/Medical reporter (specialist): Today, the government did not mention how much money it will cost and how to cover it.
A government official announced that they would save the health insurance fee for Moon Jae-in care, that is, MRI and ultrasound insurance, as much as the health insurance fee for essential medical care.
It means that there will be no raising of health insurance premiums for the reason of strengthening essential medical care.
I guess we'll have to wait and see if that's really possible.]