The Ministry of Health and Welfare will greatly expand emergency and acute-phase treatment infrastructure to avoid missing the "golden time" for treating mental illness. The core is to secure more than 2,000 intensive care unit beds by 2030 and expand regional mental emergency medical centers nationwide.
Jeong Gyeong-sil, Deputy Minister for Health and Medical Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, visited Wonkwang University Hospital in Iksan, North Jeolla, on the 19th to check the operation of the acute-phase intensive care hospital and the regional mental emergency medical center and held a meeting with medical staff. The visit was arranged to gather on-site opinions to establish a "continuous treatment system" that connects care from the initial onset of mental illness through treatment and recovery after discharge.
Wonkwang University Hospital operates an intensive care unit (30 beds) for first-episode and emergency patients who pose a risk of self-harm or harm to others or have a high need for treatment. It also runs a regional mental emergency medical center in which the department of psychiatry and the department of emergency medicine provide collaborative care, with dedicated beds inside the emergency room for mental emergency patients with coexisting physical illnesses, such as suicide attempters. The hospital is also participating in a pilot program for "hospital-based case management" to prevent treatment gaps after discharge.
The intensive care hospital is the first model to subdivide ward functions according to the stage of onset and symptoms and differentiate reimbursement. The government designated 26 sites with 391 beds by 2025 and plans to expand to more than 2,000 beds by 2030. Regional mental emergency medical centers will also be expanded nationwide during the same period. Currently, 13 centers are designated.
At the meeting, policy tasks and support measures were discussed to build a seamless medical service system for each stage of mental illness onset. Medical staff and local government officials emphasized the need to secure personnel and strengthen community linkages.
Deputy Minister Jeong said, "Emergency and acute-phase treatment infrastructure is an essential element for timely and proper care," adding, "We must build a foundation for treatment and rehabilitation together so that people can fully recover while continuing their daily lives in the community after early discharge." Jeong added, "We will build a policy foundation that is organically connected from mental emergencies through the post-discharge phase."