Gyeonggi Province will open two additional public postpartum care centers in Anseong and Pyeongtaek by 2026. This will increase the total number of public postpartum care centers in the province to four, following those in Yeoju and Pocheon.
On the 12th, Gyeonggi Province announced that after conducting a public contest for the installation of public postpartum care centers in 31 cities and counties within the province from the 8th to the 27th of last month, Anseong and Pyeongtaek were selected as the final candidate sites.
The province will provide a total of 7.6 billion KRW in provincial funds for the two additional centers, with 5.5 billion KRW allocated to Anseong and 2.1 billion KRW to Pyeongtaek.
The Anseong public postpartum care center will be built with an investment of 18.7 billion KRW, covering a total floor area of 3,200㎡ and approximately 20 rooms for mothers. Anseong City will purchase land in the Oksan-dong area near Gyeonggi Provincial Medical Center Anseong Hospital. Construction is expected to begin as early as 2025, with the goal of opening in 2026.
The Pyeongtaek public postpartum care center will target the underserved western region by purchasing and remodeling an existing building, aiming to open in October 2024. Pyeongtaek City will invest 8.8 billion KRW to open a center with a total floor area of 1,500㎡ and about 15 rooms for mothers.
The province previously opened the first public postpartum care center in the province, Yeoju Public Postpartum Care Center, in May 2019. The Pocheon Public Postpartum Care Center is scheduled to open in April this year.
To further expand public postpartum care centers, the province plans to explore various types, including utilizing postpartum care centers that have closed due to poor management or establishing postpartum care centers affiliated with private hospitals that have the willingness to operate such businesses.
Lee Jeong-hwa, Director of the Health Promotion Division of the province, stated, "We are devising various measures to encourage childbirth amid the continuing decline in birth rates," adding, "To this end, we will continue to expand public postpartum care centers in cooperation with cities and counties."
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