[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The Gyeonggi Provincial Psychiatric Hospital will partially open next month. The Gyeonggi Provincial Psychiatric Hospital (Sangha-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si), which opened in 1982, was operated by a private institution but gave up re-commissioning due to chronic deficits, and closed in May last year after the failure to select a successor operating institution.
Since then, the province has prepared measures to strengthen the management system for patients with severe mental illnesses, reorganizing it into a new provincial psychiatric hospital with a 24-hour treatment and management system, and announced its reopening in August last year, but faced delays until now.
A provincial official stated, "We will apply for the establishment of a medical institution at the health center in early February after the renovation work is completed, and if there are no issues, we plan to partially open and operate from mid-next month, then conduct inspections for a month or two before officially opening."
The province plans to secure around 20 personnel aiming for an official opening in April.
Currently, one psychiatrist as director and four nursing staff have been hired, and recruitment announcements will be made in stages to hire doctors and nursing staff in line with the opening schedule.
The staffing quotas by field are six psychiatrists, one family medicine specialist, and 18 nurses.
The province plans to start with 50 beds at the initial opening and gradually increase the number of beds. The hospital operation will be managed by Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center, a public medical institution under the province.
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