‘Gyeonggi-do Love Eye Project’
Transportation Cost Support of 1 Million Won
Gyeonggi Province will provide 1 million KRW in transportation expenses to pregnant women starting next year, and increase postpartum care support funds from 500,000 KRW to 2 million KRW per child for second and subsequent births in areas vulnerable to childbirth.
On the 22nd, Gyeonggi Province revealed part of the ‘Gyeonggi Love Eye Project,’ which is being promoted to prepare population and low birthrate policies that residents can feel.
The disclosed policies include ▲“Mom and Dad’s First School” ▲Pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare information at your fingertips (all at once through the Gyeonggi DdokD app) ▲Convenient transportation support for pregnant women to hospitals ▲Issuance of birth congratulatory cards ‘Gyeonggi Aideumppuk (Book)’ ▲Zero postpartum care expenses burden in childbirth-vulnerable areas ▲VIP privileges at public parking lots for multi-child families.
From August to November, Gyeonggi Province will operate “Mom and Dad’s First School,” educating 55 couples expecting pregnancy and childbirth on the process of pregnancy and childbirth, the advantages of natural delivery, and hands-on experience in father and baby care.
The education, held at the Infertility and Depression Counseling Center in the northern Gyeonggi area (Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital), will be led by experts such as obstetricians and head nurses of the neonatal intensive care unit. Recruitment for participants will be announced later through the Gyeonggi Province website and other channels.
Starting in October, Gyeonggi Province will deliver congratulatory cards from the governor to families with newborns to share the joy of birth, and next year, it will also implement a project to send books related to pregnancy and childcare to pregnant women.
Reflecting residents’ opinions that it is difficult to find pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare policies promoted by the government or local governments, a comprehensive information service will be introduced from October through the ‘Gyeonggi DdokD (app)’ to make it easy to find and apply for these policies at once.
Gyeonggi DdokD is an app that provides customized information based on MyData and issues resident cards (such as multi-child cards), offering services that connect users to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare information and applications tailored to them.
Additionally, to address blind spots in pregnancy and childbirth, transportation expenses of 1 million KRW per person will be supported for pregnant women living in six childbirth-vulnerable areas with poor medical infrastructure?Yeoncheon, Gapyeong, Yangpyeong, Anseong, Pocheon, and Yeoju?to facilitate comfortable travel to hospitals.
Through consultations with childbirth-vulnerable counties, the postpartum care expenses, previously paid at 500,000 KRW per newborn, are being reviewed to be increased to 1 million KRW for the first child and 2 million KRW for the second child to reduce the burden of postpartum care.
The increased support for transportation and postpartum care expenses will go through preliminary procedures such as consultations with the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s social security system and aim to be implemented next year.
Gyeonggi Province plans to expand discounts on public parking fees for families with two or more children. Currently, families with two or more children receive a 50% discount; this will be changed to a 100% discount for the first two hours and a 50% discount for the remaining time, in consultation with municipalities.
Furthermore, among the six municipalities that currently restrict fee discounts to local residents, four plan to abolish the local residency condition, and the remaining two are negotiating with municipalities to remove the restriction as well.
Choi Hye-min, Policy Planning Officer of Gyeonggi Province, said, “We hope this policy will be something residents can feel and that it will practically help and positively influence choices regarding pregnancy and childbirth. We will continue to make every effort to prepare policies that can be solutions to the low birthrate crisis.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
