Seoul Public Night Pharmacies 'Shutter Down'... Next Year's City Budget Cuts Entire 1.2 Billion KRW Support Fund

Complete Budget Cut for 2024 Seoul Public Night Pharmacies

The operation of Seoul's public night pharmacies will end on the 31st of this month. Difficulties in purchasing medicines at night are expected until the central government's full-scale public late-night pharmacy project is implemented in 2025. Some suggest alternatives such as creating a night operation environment for private pharmacies and providing subsidies starting the year after next to reduce medical service gaps.

Pharmacy Open at Night
[Image Source=Yonhap News]

On the 18th, Seoul City sent official letters to each district office notifying them of the termination of the public night pharmacy operation project. Public night pharmacies are pharmacies that operate from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. the next day on weekdays, weekends, and holidays, allowing citizens to purchase medicines at night. Since September 2020, the city has designated and operated public night pharmacies, and currently, there are a total of 33 public night pharmacies operating in Seoul.

The city explained that the suspension of the public night pharmacy project is inevitable due to a decrease in next year’s budget. Seoul’s budget for next year has been finalized at 45.7405 trillion won, about 1.4 trillion won less than this year. The budget related to public night pharmacies, which was about 1.2 billion won, has been completely cut. According to the Korea Pharmaceutical Association, the city has been providing about 30,000 won per hour as a subsidy for night operations at public night pharmacies.

The city believes there will be no major inconvenience even if public night pharmacies close. Among the approximately 5,400 pharmacies in Seoul, 177 operate after 10 p.m. on weekdays, of which only 5 are public night pharmacies. On weekends, out of 112 pharmacies operating at night, 28 are public night pharmacies. Seoul plans to guide citizens to easily find pharmacies by district and operating hours by day of the week through the map service "Smart Seoul Map" to minimize inconvenience caused by the suspension of public night pharmacies.

However, it is certain that citizen inconvenience will increase. When public night pharmacy operations end, only 84 private pharmacies, about 75% of the current number, will operate at night on weekends. Public night pharmacies are required to stay open until 1 a.m., but private pharmacies may close due to personal circumstances. The Korea Pharmaceutical Association pointed out in a statement, "While the government expanded the scope of first-time telemedicine to nighttime to secure medical accessibility, the policy that suddenly shuts down well-functioning public night pharmacies, leaving no pharmacies open late at night, is contradictory."

As alternatives to fill the nighttime medical gap, measures such as using contingency funds and providing subsidies starting the year after next have been proposed. Professor Kim Jun-mo of Konkuk University’s Department of Public Administration said, "The issue of night pharmacies is important enough to extend into the realm of public safety. Since it does not require a large budget, solutions could be sought by utilizing contingency funds or reallocating budget items." Professor Kim Yong-chul of Pusan National University’s Department of Public Administration said, "Ultimately, the direct incentive is 'money.' If the budget is insufficient, Seoul City and the Korea Pharmaceutical Association need to discuss operating public night pharmacies as a priority next year and allocating subsidies in the budget for the following year."

Meanwhile, some districts will independently operate public night pharmacies starting next year. Seoul’s Mapo-gu and Nowon-gu announced that they will operate "district-type public night pharmacies" supported by district funds from next year to secure residents’ health rights.