Lee Gae-ho "National Support Needed for Operating Hospital Ships in Island Areas"

Local Governments Face Heavy Burden... Urgent Need for Fuel Tax Exemption

Assemblyman Lee Gae-ho

Lee Gae-ho, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea (Damyang, Hampyeong, Yeonggwang, Jangseong), strongly urged the government on the 8th at the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee’s audit to provide government-level operational cost support for hospital ships operated by local governments to improve medical services in island areas.

To promote the health of residents in medically underserved island areas, five hospital ships (1 in Incheon, 1 in Chungnam, 2 in Jeonnam, and 1 in Gyeongnam) are currently operated across four cities and provinces nationwide, providing medical services such as mobile clinics, health checkups, and chronic disease management in island regions.

However, national funding support for hospital ships is limited to design, construction, and repair costs through the “Relocation and Reconstruction of Rural Health Centers (Balanced National Development Account)” project, with 10.021 billion KRW provided this year. Other expenses such as fuel costs, operational costs, and medicine costs are all shifted to local governments. Additionally, unlike passenger ships that use duty-free fuel, hospital ships must use taxable fuel, placing a heavy burden on local governments.

In the case of Jeonnam Province, which operates two hospital ships, the area covered exceeds 150,000 km², about 1.5 times the size of South Korea’s land area, yet the province fully bears the annual operational costs of the hospital ships, which range from 700 million to 1 billion KRW.

Rep. Lee emphasized, “There is a need for the government’s role and responsibility to improve health and medical services in island areas,” adding, “It is urgent to improve the system to support operational costs and exempt fuel taxes for hospital ships, which are blind spots in government health policy.”