[Seoul, Now]Isn't Establishing a Public Postpartum Care Center in Our Neighborhood an Urgent Priority?

Dog Playgrounds and Park Golf Courses Are Welcome,
But Is One Public Postpartum Care Center for Every 4.7 Million People Enough?
Yongsan-gu Leads Ordinance Revision, Deserving Praise

Dog playgrounds for pet owners and park golf courses for seniors are both valuable. However, should the establishment of public postpartum care centers for mothers and newborns be pushed down the list of priorities?

Giving birth in Seoul is both a blessing and a burden. For mothers and newborns, a postpartum care center is an essential stop after childbirth. Yet, out of Seoul's 25 districts, there are only two public postpartum care centers: one in Songpa-gu and one in Seodaemun-gu. Mothers in the remaining 23 districts must rely solely on private postpartum care centers or compete fiercely for reservations at the limited public facilities, whether through online clicks or lotteries.

If everyone had deep pockets, there would be no need for further discussion. However, the average cost for a standard room at a private postpartum care center in Seoul for two weeks is 4.78 million won, and for a deluxe room, the average is 7.64 million won. In reality, users feel the financial burden even more acutely than these averages suggest. For example, Gangnam-gu, which has 16 centers?14.3% of all 112 centers in Seoul?charges about twice the citywide average.

In comparison, the two public postpartum care centers in Seoul charge significantly less. The Songpa-gu center costs between 1.9 million and 2.09 million won, while the Seodaemun-gu center charges between 250,000 and 2.5 million won. Naturally, reservations are not easy. In Songpa-gu, online reservations open on the last Wednesday of every month and fill up within 30 minutes. The lottery system in Seodaemun-gu has a competition rate of more than 5 to 1. Even then, residents from other districts face even greater barriers.

Seoul's birth rate is 0.58. Despite record-low birth rates and a national crisis of declining births, infrastructure for mothers and newborns remains a low priority. There are reasons for the slow pace of establishing public postpartum care centers. One is the enormous budget required. Building a single public postpartum care center in Seoul costs at least 10 billion won. More than half of the annual operating expenses, which exceed 2 billion won, are deficits, and there is virtually no national funding support. For district offices with limited budgets, this is a heavy burden.

There is also concern about friction with the private sector. Expanding public facilities is met with opposition, as it is seen as market disruption. This led to the introduction of postpartum care subsidies. However, these subsidies only encouraged private centers to raise their fees. When Seoul introduced the subsidy system two years ago, 37 out of 114 postpartum care centers in the city raised their prices.

There are also significant concerns about infection control and user complaints. Some local governments dropped plans to build public postpartum care centers after COVID-19. There are worries about responding to increasingly intense complaints, as well as the risk of penalties under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

Institutional obstacles and lack of space are also major issues. Public postpartum care centers are not recognized as social welfare or public infrastructure facilities, making it difficult to link them to various development projects such as land donations or park site use. In central Seoul, where idle land is scarce and land prices are high, these challenges are even greater.

In this context, Yongsan-gu's 'practical solution' deserves attention. Yongsan-gu proposed amending Seoul's urban planning ordinance to include postpartum care centers as public infrastructure, similar to social welfare facilities. Seoul accepted this proposal and revised the ordinance last month. This institutional change allows public postpartum care center sites to be secured through land donations in development projects, in line with the realities of the city center.

There are still many obstacles for local governments to establish and operate public postpartum care centers. Nevertheless, the determination of district mayors who are pushing forward with new public postpartum care centers despite all these burdens deserves applause. Just one public postpartum care center for every 4.7 million people in Seoul?isn't that far too little?