Construction of Incheon 270t-Class New Hospital Ship... Mobile Medical Services to Expand to 20 Islands Starting Next Year

A new hospital ship will be constructed to provide medical care for residents of island areas in Incheon.

On the 15th, Incheon City announced that it held a steel cutting ceremony at a ship parts manufacturing company in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, marking the official start of the hospital ship construction.

The city is promoting the construction of a new hospital ship to replace the current hospital ship "Incheon 531 (108-ton class)," which is 25 years old and outdated, in order to secure operational stability and improve medical service quality through better treatment conditions.

The new hospital ship, with a construction cost of 12.6 billion KRW, will be more than twice the size of the current ship at 270 tons, capable of carrying up to 44 people and operating at a maximum speed of 46 km/h.

Perspective view of the new hospital ship under construction in Incheon [Provided by Incheon City]

The city plans to deploy the new hospital ship to island areas of Ongjin-gun, which lack medical institutions, starting from March next year. The areas for mobile medical services will also be expanded from the existing three myeon (townships) and nine islands?Deokjeok-myeon, Jawol-myeon, and Yeonpyeong-myeon?to a total of six myeon and 20 islands by adding Baengnyeong-myeon, Daecheong-myeon, and Bukdo-myeon.

An official from Incheon City stated, "With the deployment of the new hospital ship, a physical therapy room will be newly established reflecting the needs of elderly residents in the island areas, and nutritional education such as dietary therapy will be provided to manage chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes concurrently."