Central Infectious Disease Hospital to be Newly Built and Relocated to US Military Site in Jung-gu, Seoul... Completion in 2027 (Update)

Donation of 700 Billion KRW by Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee Reflected
"Construction to Start by End of 2024, Completion Expected Around 2027"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The government announced plans to construct and relocate the Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital to Bangsan-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul by 2027.

On the 27th, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters reported on the 'Progress of the Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital Construction' and discussed the matter.

In 2017, the government designated the National Medical Center as the Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital and appointed five university hospitals as regional infectious disease specialized hospitals. The Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital will take on the role of overall coordination and management of infectious disease prevention and medical response in the future.

Son Young-rae, Head of the Social Strategy Division at the Central Accident Response Headquarters, stated, "The Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital will be built as a world-class infectious disease treatment hospital, not only treating severe patients but also managing the allocation and coordination of infectious disease beds, evaluating and managing regional hospitals, as well as conducting national infectious disease management tasks such as medical personnel education and training."

The hospital is planned to be built on the site of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Bangsan-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. The land purchase process is currently underway with the Ministry of National Defense. Initially, the plan was to relocate to Wonji-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, but due to concerns about noise pollution in the surrounding area and transportation accessibility, the relocation plan was changed in July 2020. Additionally, site maintenance work such as buried cultural heritage surveys and environmental cleanup is also being carried out at the Bangsan-dong site.

With the reconstruction and relocation of the National Medical Center, the number of beds is expected to expand to around 800. Among these, the number of beds for the Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital is being negotiated to a level sufficient to respond to infectious disease crises, according to health authorities.

The relocation of the Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital will include donations from the family of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee. In April last year, the family donated 700 billion KRW for purposes including the construction of the Central Infectious Disease Specialized Hospital to overcome infectious disease crises. Park Hyang, Head of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters’ Quarantine General Division, explained, "With the donation of 700 billion KRW, although we were initially considering a specialized infectious disease hospital with about 100 beds, the donor’s wish for a world-class infectious disease specialized hospital led to an overall increase in the scale (of beds)."

After completing administrative procedures such as re-evaluating the project’s feasibility, the hospital will proceed to design and construction. The design is planned to be completed by 2024, with construction starting at the end of that year and completion expected around 2027.

Son said, "Once a response system centered on central and regional infectious disease specialized hospitals is established, it is expected that medical responses such as treatment of severe patients and allocation and coordination of beds can be carried out more swiftly in the event of infectious disease crises like this one."