The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 17th that it launched the official consultative body that discusses regional essential medical issues with the participation of 17 metropolitan and provincial governments and regional responsibility medical institutions such as national university hospitals, called the Central-local consultative body for strategies to promote regional, essential and public health care.
Through March next year, when the Regional Essential Health Care Act takes effect, preparation tasks such as planning regional essential health care projects and enacting subordinate statutes are concentrated. Going forward, the consultative body will be run once a month under the ministry's lead, and separate regional consultative bodies for fine-tuning at the regional bloc level—5 ultra-wide areas and 3 special self-governing provinces (5-geuk, 3-teuk)—will be formed within this month and operated separately.
The consultative body plans to shift, with the enforcement of the Regional Essential Health Care Act on Mar. 11 next year, to a system consisting of the central essential health care policy review committee, councils for the five ultra-wide areas, and essential health care committees of the 17 metropolitan and provincial governments. Each metropolitan and provincial government will design projects based on its own circumstances, and the ministry will adjust investment weights to fit regional characteristics in line with common basic directions it sets.
At the first meeting of the consultative body held that day, chaired by Second Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hoon, directors of health from the 17 metropolitan and provincial governments and deputy directors for public affairs at regional responsibility medical institutions attended. According to a ministry official, the attending local government health directors shared the reality of care gaps by field—emergency, childbirth and pediatrics—and investment ideas suited to regional characteristics, and agreed on the need for joint planning with regional responsibility medical institutions.
Second Vice Minister Lee Hyeong-hoon said, "We have begun a process of jointly crafting answers to the question of how each metropolitan and provincial government will change essential health care in its region within 10 years," adding, "With one year left until the law takes effect, this is the most important period, and we will deliver tangible results by reflecting voices from the field."