The supervising ministry for regional national university hospitals will shift from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. It comes 21 years after the first discussions began in 2005. The government said it will push a comprehensive plan to foster national university hospitals as a core pillar of regional essential care.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Ministry of Education said on the 29th that partial amendments to the National University Hospital Establishment Act and the National University Dental Hospital Establishment Act passed the National Assembly's plenary session. The amendments change the supervising ministry for regional national university hospitals and dental hospitals to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and guarantee their autonomy.
The amended laws will take effect six months after promulgation, following approval by the Cabinet and promulgation. The government views this as the first step to institutionally support the national agenda of strengthening regional, essential, and public health care.
The transfer of supervising authority over national university hospitals had been discussed since the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2005, but passed after 21 years. Concerns included that, if the supervising ministry were transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, educational and research capacity would be reduced and that no effective mid- to long-term comprehensive plan had been prepared. However, as worries grew recently that regional health care had fallen into crisis—such as patients in the provinces seeking care in the Seoul metropolitan area and widening gaps in avoidable mortality between regions—the authority was transferred to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Minister Jung Eun-kyeong of the Ministry of Health and Welfare said, "Transferring the supervising ministry for regional national university hospitals to the Ministry of Health and Welfare is the beginning of strengthening regional and essential health care." Minister Choi Kyo-jin of the Ministry of Education said, "We will continue to cooperate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare so that the hospitals can faithfully fulfill their roles as teaching hospitals of national medical schools."