Seo Jeong-hyeop Acting Governor, Concrete Plans for 'National Medical Center' New Construction and Relocation... MOA Signed

Minister Kwon Deok-cheol of the Ministry of Health and Welfare signs MOA via video... Relocation to US Army Corps of Engineers site in Bangsan-dong, Jung-gu
Reborn as a public medical hub with 800 beds including Central Infectious Disease Hospital and Central Trauma Center... Target opening in 2026

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seo Jeong-cheop, Acting Mayor of Seoul, will sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) via video conference on the 5th at the Seoul City Hall video conference room with Kwon Deok-cheol, Minister of Health and Welfare, to specify the details related to the construction and relocation of the National Medical Center.

This MOA is a follow-up measure to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreed upon by Seoul City and the Ministry of Health and Welfare on July 1 last year to construct and relocate the National Medical Center to the US Army Engineer Battalion site in Bangsan-dong, Jung-gu. Since then, from August last year, an Implementation Committee (participating Seoul City, Ministry of Health and Welfare, and National Medical Center) was formed to prepare detailed execution plans, and after several consultations, the contents of this MOA were derived.

Seoul City and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the main parties for the construction and relocation of the National Medical Center, agreed through last year's MOU to relocate the National Medical Center to the US Army Engineer Battalion site and to establish and operate a Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital and a Central Trauma Center within the newly constructed National Medical Center to enhance infectious disease response and medical capabilities.

The MOA includes the cancellation of the sales contract signed by both institutions regarding the site in Wonji-dong, Seocho-gu, where the National Medical Center was originally planned to be relocated in 2016, as well as the refund amount and refund method. It also contains specific details such as the entity responsible for drafting the urban planning documents related to the US Army Engineer Battalion site.

Opened in 1958 and now aging, the National Medical Center will be reborn as a public medical hub with 800 beds, including a Central Infectious Disease Hospital and Central Trauma Center, along with the Public Health Medical Headquarters function through reconstruction and relocation. The target opening year is 2026.

Acting Mayor Seo Jeong-cheop said, "After a long discussion process, we have achieved the fruition of the construction and relocation of the National Medical Center," and added, "Seoul City will cooperate to the fullest to ensure that the remaining procedures proceed smoothly."

He continued, "This construction and relocation of the National Medical Center holds great significance as a groundbreaking turning point that strengthens Seoul's public medical capabilities beyond just a change of location," and added, "Especially as social consensus on infectious disease response capabilities has expanded through the experience of COVID-19, it is expected that the National Medical Center will be an opportunity to leap forward as a central institution of domestic public health care."