Mayor Ju Kwang-deok of Namyangju Emphasizes Case for Public Medical Center in Northeast Gyeonggi to Provincial Assembly

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Eom In-yong] Mayor Ju Kwang-deok of Namyangju visited the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly to emphasize the rationale for attracting the Northeast Gyeonggi Public Medical Center to Namyangju.

On the 24th, the mayor visited the provincial assembly and met in turn with Lee Sun-gu, chair of the Health and Welfare Committee, Choi Jong-hyun, representative of the Democratic Party, and Kim Jung-ho, representative of the People Power Party. He underscored Namyangju's economic and geographical advantages as the city that should be selected from among the candidate sites for the public medical center in northeast Gyeonggi.

Previously, the mayor delivered a proposal for candidate site selection to Administrative Vice Governor Kim Sung-joong on the 12th, along with a petition containing the wishes of 211,359 residents to attract the facility. By submitting the proposal first among the eight candidate sites, he demonstrated strong determination to secure the public medical center.

Mayor Ju Kwang-deok stated, "Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Centers are concentrated only in the southern, northwestern, and central-northern regions of Gyeonggi, so to resolve public healthcare imbalances, the newly constructed public medical center should be located in the eastern region." He emphasized, "Among the eastern regions, establishment in Namyangju, which has superior accessibility and the largest potential patient population, is the most rational choice and the optimal site with the highest possibility of passing the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's preliminary feasibility study."

He continued, "In the upcoming evaluations, we request that external factors be rigorously excluded and that only objective and transparent review by expert groups take place. We ask for the provincial assembly's attention and verification to ensure fair evaluation."

Meanwhile, Gyeonggi Province has completed preliminary assessment and the first quantitative evaluation and plans to form a 'Medical Center Establishment Review Committee' to conduct the second qualitative evaluation and announce the final selected location by the end of September.