Seongdong-gu, Nationwide First to Support Hair Loss Treatment Costs for Youth

[Seoul District News] Seongdong-gu Enacts and Promotes Ordinance Supporting Hair Loss Treatment for Youth on the 6th; Voucher Support for Residents Under 39 Diagnosed and Living Over 3 Months; Dongdaemun-gu Supports ICT Assistive Devices for Disabled; Gwangjin-gu Enables Online Application for COVID-19 Living Support Funds; Songpa-gu Provides New Hire Employment Incentives to Small Businesses from May 10 Until Budget Exhaustion; Gangbuk-gu Offers Up to 1.5 Million KRW Support for Re-entrepreneur Small Businesses and Unpaid Leave Workers

Seongdong-gu Panorama

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Seongdong-gu has enacted and promulgated the Seoul Metropolitan City Seongdong-gu Ordinance on Support for Hair Loss Treatment for Youth, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance) on the 6th of this month, initiating support for hair loss treatment expenses for the youth.

According to the National Health Insurance Corporation's '2020 Hair Loss Disease Patients by Age Group and Gender' data, patients aged 39 or younger account for as much as 51.4% of all hair loss patients, indicating that many young people suffer difficulties due to hair loss. The district has thus established a basis for supporting their treatment.

The ordinance, the first of its kind nationwide, stipulates necessary matters for supporting hair loss treatment for youth, etc. It defines 'hair loss' as a disease diagnosed by a doctor where hair is absent in areas where hair should normally exist, and allows partial support for the number of treatments or an amount corresponding to treatment costs through a 'Hair Loss Treatment Voucher.'

In particular, the support recipients are defined as residents registered in Seongdong-gu who have lived there for more than three months and are 'residents aged 39 or younger diagnosed with alopecia.' This broadens the scope to include not only youth starting employment and social life but also adolescents without economic independence, enabling consistent disease management from the early stages of hair loss symptoms.

The district plans to go beyond merely supporting treatment costs for the disease, aiming to help those suffering from hair loss lead more vibrant daily lives and fulfill their roles as healthy members of society, reflecting empathy for their difficulties.

A district official said, “We prepared this ordinance to encourage and empower the younger generation and plan to promote the project by setting specific support procedures and scales in the future. We will also establish annual implementation plans to support hair loss treatment for youth and others, ensuring timely and appropriate support through detailed policies and support measures.”

Dongdaemun-gu (Mayor Yoo Deok-yeol) is promoting a project to supply information and communication assistive devices to bridge the information gap for people with disabilities who are easily marginalized in the information age.

The assistive devices to be supplied include 67 types for visual disabilities such as screen reading software, magnifiers, touch monitors, and braille information terminals; 21 types for physical and brain lesion disabilities such as special keyboards, special mice, and touch monitors; and 33 types for hearing and speech disabilities such as video phones, voice amplifiers, communication aids, and speech training software, totaling 121 types.

Applicants must be registered persons with disabilities under Article 32 of the Act on Welfare of Persons with Disabilities or veterans who have been certified with disability grades under Article 6 of the Act on the Honorable Treatment and Support of Persons, etc. of Distinguished Services to the State.

If selected, recipients can receive support for up to 80% of the assistive device price, and disabled persons who are basic livelihood security recipients or belong to the near-poverty class can receive additional support covering up to 50% of their personal burden.

Residents wishing to apply must submit the application form and necessary documents by June 17 to their local community service center or the Smart City Division of the district office either in person, by mail, or online through the information and communication assistive device website. Postal applications are accepted if they arrive by the deadline.

After the application deadline, documents including application forms and benefit history checks will be reviewed, and final eligibility will be comprehensively determined through consultations by Seoul city counselors. The final list of recipients will be announced on July 15 on the Seoul city website. For more details, visit the Dongdaemun-gu website (ddm.go.kr) under district news.

A district official stated, “As informatization accelerates, this project aims to expand information utilization opportunities for people with disabilities and bridge the information gap. We will continue various supports not only for people with disabilities but also for digitally marginalized groups.”

Gwangjin-gu is implementing an online application service for the ‘COVID-19 Living Support Fund’ to enhance convenience for residents and improve work efficiency.

This online service is promoted to alleviate residents' inconvenience in applying for and processing the living support fund caused by the increase in confirmed cases and to reduce the workload of staff.

Online applications apply to confirmed cases released from quarantine after May 13. Those released before May 12 must apply in person at their local community service center as before.

Applications can be made via the Government24 (Bojo-geum24) website or mobile app and must be submitted within three months after the end of the quarantine period.

The support amount is 100,000 KRW for one quarantined person in a household and 150,000 KRW for two or more.

Required application items are automatically filled through information linkage between related systems, so no additional documents need to be attached. If family members in the same household are confirmed cases, necessary information is also automatically provided. However, if the confirmed case is a worker who did not receive paid leave, a ‘Certificate of Non-provision of Paid Leave’ must be attached.

Additionally, confirmed cases quarantined after April 11 of this year can obtain quarantine notices and quarantine release confirmation documents online via Government24 if needed, besides the text messages sent by health centers.

Songpa-gu will provide new employment incentive grants to small business owners in the district who have reopened after closing due to the spread of COVID-19, starting May 10 until the budget is exhausted.

The support targets small business owners who completed closure after 2020 and reopened in Songpa-gu. Those who hired new staff in 2022 and maintained employment insurance for more than three months can apply. There is no limit on the number of hires, and 1.5 million KRW per new hire will be supported. The employment insurance must be maintained for an additional three months from the month of application for the grant to be finalized. However, businesses in sectors excluded from the Small and Medium Business Administration's small business policy fund loans such as entertainment bars and gambling-related industries, non-profit organizations (social enterprises and cooperatives are eligible), sole proprietors, and those receiving public institution employment incentives or small business support funds are excluded.

Applications can be submitted by checking the list of required documents on the Songpa-gu website's notice board, downloading the dedicated form, preparing the documents, and submitting them directly by the business owner via email, fax, in person, or mail. If the business owner has difficulty submitting, a power of attorney attached to the notice can be completed and submitted together.

A confirmation text will be sent within three days after submission. If no text is received, applicants must contact the district office to confirm document receipt.

A district official said, “We hope this employment incentive payment will help the recovery and employment expansion of small business owners who have reopened. Songpa-gu will continue to do its best to support small businesses and revive the local economy.”

Gangbuk-gu (Mayor Park Gyeom-su) is promoting support projects for ‘Unpaid Leave Workers’ and ‘Employment Incentives’ to revitalize the local economy stagnated by COVID-19.

First, the ‘Unpaid Leave Worker Support Fund’ targets small businesses and micro-enterprises that have difficulty receiving government unpaid leave support.

Eligibility requirements are workers who took unpaid leave for seven or more days per month between April 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022, at companies with fewer than 50 employees in Gangbuk-gu, and whose employment insurance is maintained until July 31.

The support amount is up to 1.5 million KRW (500,000 KRW per person per month, up to three months), with priority given to workers in small businesses and special employment support sectors such as travel, tourism accommodation, and film industries.

The ‘Employment Incentive’ aims to provide a stepping stone for small business owners who successfully reopened after closure due to COVID-19.

Eligible recipients are small business enterprises that closed after 2020 and reopened before the application date. An employment incentive of 1.5 million KRW per new hire in 2022 is provided.

The incentive can be applied for after three months of new hires, and payment is made after confirming employment insurance has been maintained for three months.

Applicants can visit the Job Plus Center on the first floor of Gangbuk-gu Office or apply by registered mail, fax, or email to the Job Economy Division of Gangbuk-gu.

Details and required documents can be found on the Gangbuk-gu website.

Mayor Park Gyeom-su said, “This project targets small business owners and workers in blind spots of government employment retention and incentive support. We encourage many workers to apply to normalize employment and revitalize the local economy after social distancing measures are lifted.”