Pediatrics and Adolescents Clinics Decrease from 521 to 456 in 5 Years
Gangnam-gu Has the Most Private Hospitals in Specific Departments
In the past five years, one out of every ten pediatric and adolescent clinics in Seoul has closed, while the number of psychiatric clinics has increased by 77% compared to five years ago.
According to an analysis of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service's 'Health Insurance Statistics' by the Seoul Institute on the 24th, the number of pediatric and adolescent clinics among private hospitals (clinics) in Seoul decreased by 12.5%, from 521 in 2017 to 456 last year.
Among the 20 medical specialties in private hospitals, including plastic surgery, neurology, and internal medicine, the only specialties that saw a decrease compared to five years ago were pediatrics and adolescent medicine and radiology (-2.4%).
Regarding this, the Korean Pediatric Society explained, "Due to low birth rates and low fees, income has continuously decreased, making it impossible to operate pediatric and adolescent clinics in local neighborhoods."
In the past five years, one out of every ten pediatric clinics in Seoul has closed, while the number of psychiatric clinics has increased by 77% compared to five years ago. [Photo by Yonhap News]
The specialty with the highest growth rate was psychiatry. During the same period, the number increased from 302 to 534, a 76.8% rise. This was followed by anesthesiology and pain medicine at 41.2%, and thoracic surgery at 37.5%.
While psychiatry has shown an annual increase of about 10% since 2018 compared to the previous year, pediatrics and adolescent medicine have steadily declined since 2017.
As of the end of last year, there were 9,467 private hospitals in Seoul, accounting for 27.1% of the nationwide total. Seoul was the only metropolitan city or province to record a ratio of 1.00% private hospitals per 1,000 people. This was followed by Daegu at 0.82%, Daejeon at 0.78%, Busan at 0.77%, and Gwangju at 0.72%, with Gyeongbuk having the lowest at 0.50%.
The district with the most private hospitals was Gangnam-gu (1,835), where plastic surgery and dermatology clinics are concentrated. This number is about twice that of Seocho-gu (708), which ranked second.
The districts with the largest increase in private hospitals compared to 2017 were Seocho-gu (30.4%), Yongsan-gu (29.8%), and Gangseo-gu (27.7%), in that order.
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