Gyeonggi Province Allocates 47.2 Billion Won to Support Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center and Others in Response to COVID-19

[Suwon Ilbo=Park No-hun Reporter] Gyeonggi Province will inject approximately 47.2 billion won in the latter half of this year to strengthen public healthcare, including operational support for Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center, in response to COVID-19. The province aims to intensively allocate budget to maintain the public medical system in preparation for prolonged COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Gyeonggi Province on the 15th, the province has allocated 43.4 billion won in COVID-19-related budget (24 billion won in national funds, 19.5 billion won in provincial funds) for the second supplementary budget this year, and this is currently under review by the Gyeonggi Provincial Council. An additional 3.8 billion won from reserves will be provided as emergency support.

First, through the second supplementary budget, the province will invest 15.86 billion won in six Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center hospitals, which are designated COVID-19 infectious disease hospitals, to cover shortfalls in essential operating expenses. Additionally, 180 million won will be spent to deploy five quarantine assistants each at six Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center locations, for a total of 30 personnel. Quarantine assistants are workers who provide disinfection support to hospital visitors and are part of the Hope Job Project for vulnerable groups.

Furthermore, the New Gyeonggi Provincial Mental Hospital will operate the nation's first COVID-19 screening clinic for patients with mental illness, with 160 million won invested for this purpose.

From reserves, 1.4 billion won will be provided to support the COVID-19 Severe Patient Care Enhancement Project (G-ICU) at Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center's Anseong Hospital to establish and operate severe patient treatment beds. This project is a collaborative model in which public hospitals provide space while the government and local private medical institutions dispatch specialized medical personnel. The province expects this model to play an important role in securing medical resources when COVID-19 spreads. Currently, seven beds have been prepared, and the province plans to expand to a total of 15 beds by allocating personnel and equipment.

Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center hospitals in Anseong, Pocheon, Paju, and Icheon will receive 2.44 billion won to support the dispatch of Gyeonggi Province's Emergency Medical Support Teams. Since August 18th, the province has been recruiting medical professionals to be deployed to dedicated infectious disease hospitals, quarantine treatment centers, and others. As of the 10th, the province has recruited 1,073 volunteer medical personnel and completed deployment of 73 personnel.

In addition, the province has included the following in the second supplementary budget: ▲Support for COVID-19 emergency medical facility installation costs (310 million won) ▲COVID-19 quarantine hospitalization treatment expenses (2.62 billion won) ▲Operation of contact isolation facilities (410 million won) ▲Expansion of negative pressure rooms in nationally designated inpatient treatment beds (4.55 billion won).

This budget plan will be finalized at the plenary session of the 346th Extraordinary Session of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council held on the 18th.

Meanwhile, the province secured a total of 55.6 billion won in the first supplementary budget in March, including 30.6 billion won and 25.1 billion won in reserves, and allocated this toward COVID-19 response measures including installation of large-scale screening test centers and support for severe patient care at private comprehensive hospitals.