Late Night Stomachache Worries Gone... Busan City Expands Public Late-Night Pharmacies

A total of 16 locations designated this year, with a day-of-the-week system in Gijang-gun
Three-hour late-night operation,
expected to ease emergency room overcrowding

The number of pharmacies in Busan city that open late at night is increasing.

Busan City (Mayor Park Hyung-jun) announced on the 12th that it will support the operation of a total of 16 public late-night pharmacies this year to provide convenience in using medicines during late-night hours.

With the revision of the Pharmacist Act, the pilot project, which was previously divided into the Busan-type and government-type, has been unified into an integrated operation system at the district and county level starting this year. This allows for more efficient and stable operation of public late-night pharmacies according to regional characteristics.

The operating hours, which were previously 2 hours for the Busan-type and 3 hours for the government-type, have been expanded to 3 hours daily from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., and the operating support fund is 40,000 KRW per hour per pharmacy.

Additionally, in Gijang-gun, where recruiting public late-night pharmacies is difficult, a flexible operation method such as a day-of-the-week system has been introduced according to local conditions to ensure there are no gaps in the designation of public late-night pharmacies.

This expansion of operation is expected to increase citizens' access to medicines by supporting convenient purchase of medicines and professional medication guidance even during late-night hours, and to further improve the convenience of using regional medical services by alleviating emergency room overcrowding.

Busan City's public late-night pharmacy project started with 4 locations in 2021, expanded to 12 locations in 2022-2023, and 14 locations in 2024, receiving positive responses each year.

As of 2024, more than 25,000 cases of medicine sales and medication consultations have been conducted annually, with the highest usage rate among people in their 30s to 50s. Public late-night pharmacies provide services that care for citizens' health late at night through professional pharmacists' medication consultations, beyond simply being places to purchase medicines.

Real-time operation information of nearby public late-night pharmacies can be checked through the Emergency Medical Portal and 119 telephone consultation.

Lee So-ra, Director of the Citizen Health Bureau of Busan City, said, “We will strive to gradually increase the number of public late-night pharmacies so that citizens can safely purchase medicines even late at night.”

Busan City Hall.