Government Sets Out to Reform Medical System to Strengthen 'Regional, Essential, and Public Healthcare'
The government recently announced a 'Strategy to Strengthen Regional, Essential, and Public Healthcare' to ensure that high-quality medical services are available anywhere in the country. This strategy was designed to create a patient-centered medical system and was officially reported to the Medical Innovation Committee on July 30th.
The government has decided to divide the nation's medical service zones into three levels to provide efficient healthcare. It plans to manage the system by categorizing the country into 5 large medical zones and 3 special medical zones, which are further subdivided into 70 medium medical zones and small medical zones at the city, county, and district levels.
This reorganization is a measure to respond to the 'era of multiple chronic conditions,' where the number of patients suffering from several diseases simultaneously is increasing due to the recent aging of the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) also emphasizes the need to transition to a 'patient-centered' medical system that considers the individual circumstances of each patient.
If this strategy is successfully implemented, the medical gap between regions is expected to narrow, and the shortage of personnel in essential medical fields is expected to be gradually resolved. The government plans to support the creation of medical environments tailored to the characteristics of each region so that citizens can use hospitals more conveniently.