Gyeonggi Province to Expand Senior Hospitals to 9 Facilities

Senior-specialized hospitals in Gyeonggi Province will increase from the current 2 to a total of 9 by 2011.

According to the province on the 29th, it plans to divide the entire province into 9 zones and operate one senior-specialized hospital in each zone.

As a result, 7 additional senior-specialized hospitals will be built in addition to the 2 currently operated by the province under consignment in Yongin and Yeoju.

For this purpose, the province plans to complete the basic design for building the Dongducheon Senior-Specialized Hospital, a provincial facility in Tapdong, Dongducheon City, by the end of October, begin construction in late that year, and complete the 232-bed hospital by June 2007.

In addition, it plans to build the Northern Region Senior-Specialized Hospital in one of Namyangju, Gapyeong, or Guri by May 2008, while planning to build the Western Region Senior-Specialized Hospital in Gwangseok-dong, Siheung City with an investment of 19.6 billion won and 230 beds by the end of 2007.

Moreover, the province will additionally build one senior-specialized hospital in each of the eastern region (Seongnam, Gwangju, Hanam), southern region (Pyeongtaek, Hwaseong, Anseong, Osan), northern region (Goyang, Paju), and western region (Anyang, Ansan, Gwangmyeong, Gunpo) by 2011.

A provincial official said, "We are expanding the construction of provincial senior-specialized hospitals to 9 regions so that elderly residents in each area of the province can access senior-specialized hospitals without inconvenience." <Yonhap>