Comprehensive hospitals in Korea are competing to expand branch offices in the metropolitan area.
As the concentration of the population in the metropolitan area intensifies, hospitals are seeking to expand into regions with high medical demand, but there are concerns that this could exacerbate the gap in medical infrastructure between the metropolitan area and local cities amid the population outflow from those cities.
According to the medical community and the Gwacheon Urban Corporation on the 25th, Cha Hospital and Ajou University Hospital participated in the private sector bidding for the development project in the special planning area of Makgye-dong, Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi Province.
Daewoo Academy, which operates Ajou University Hospital, and the Seongkwang Medical Foundation of Cha Hospital formed a consortium with financial companies such as IBK Securities, Hana Bank, Mirae Asset Securities, and KB Securities, as well as construction companies including Daewoo E&C, Hanwha, and Ssangyong Engineering & Construction, and submitted proposals on the 19th.
The special planning area of Makgye-dong is a key development site located near the Seoul Grand Park Station, adjacent to the Gangnam area. The city of Gwacheon plans to select a preferred bidder through a proposal evaluation at the selection screening committee on the 26th.
Cha Hospital, which participated in the bidding, plans to establish a 500-bed hospital on a site of 130,000 square meters and relocate the Gangnam Cha Hospital, which is scheduled for reconstruction, to Gwacheon. They also proposed to establish an artificial intelligence (AI) bio-healthcare hub in cooperation with Kakao Health and Cha Healthcare, equipped with 32 medical departments including an emergency center, pediatric emergency center, and cancer and memory center.
A representative from Cha Hospital said, "Currently, the facilities of Bundang Cha Hospital and Gangnam Cha Hospital are aging, so we are planning to expand by entering the Gwacheon branch."
Ajou University Hospital plans to establish an emergency response system in Gwacheon and create an advanced digital healthcare cluster linking Gwacheon, Pyeongtaek, and Suwon. They are working with LG Electronics and Kakao Brain to build a smart hospital model and are also planning a silver town targeting the aging society.
Other university hospitals have also begun establishing branch offices.
Korea University, Chung-Ang University, and Soonchunhyang University are also competing to secure sites for branches in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) and the city of Hwaseong plan to announce the final preferred bidder selected through the bid evaluation at the end of October.
Seoul National University Hospital began construction of the Baekgod Seoul National University Hospital in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on the 18th. Seoul Asan Medical Center is also promoting the creation of a medical complex in Incheon Cheongna. Both hospitals aim to open in 2029. Yonsei Medical Center was planning to construct the Songdo Severance Hospital in Incheon with a goal to open in 2024, but construction is delayed due to economic downturns and revenue issues.
There are also critical voices within and outside the medical community regarding the competition to establish smart hospitals led by AI and digital healthcare, as major university hospitals are perceived to have stronger medical infrastructure in the metropolitan area than in local areas.
Hospitals point to the worsening population imbalance between regions as a background. While the population outflow from local cities is accelerating, the population within the metropolitan area is increasing, making it inevitable to increase supply in areas with high medical demand. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the population gap between the metropolitan area and non-metropolitan areas rose sharply from 1,737 in 2019 to 247,591 in 2020, 407,757 in 2021, 531,198 in 2022, and 703,201 in 2023, reaching a record high of 877,825 last year.
There is also a perception that in order to increase added value linked to AI and the bio-health industry, it is advantageous to be in the metropolitan area where many corporations and talent are concentrated.
Despite the various policies aimed at strengthening medical infrastructure in the regions, local hospitals are facing a shortage of medical personnel. In particular, medical personnel classified as essential, such as emergency medicine and obstetrics and gynecology, are also concentrated in the metropolitan area.
A representative from the medical community explained, "The concentration of large hospital establishments in the metropolitan area is influenced by complex factors such as population structure and the distribution of medical resources." He noted, "As investment increasingly concentrates in the metropolitan area, the aging of medical facilities and personnel gaps in local cities could become more pronounced, and it is necessary for the government to invest more in regional medical infrastructure."