"Annual Support of 120 Million Won for Nighttime Pediatric Care"...Will Regional Imbalances Be Resolved?

60 out of 135 Moonlight Children's Hospitals Concentrated in the Seoul Metropolitan Area
120 Million Won in Support for Launching Local Nighttime Pediatric Care
Qualification and Operating Standards to Be Diversified According to Regional Characteristics

The government is set to address regional imbalances in the Moonlight Children's Hospital system, which was established to fill gaps in nighttime pediatric care. Moving beyond quantitative expansion, which has already achieved significant results, the government now plans to foster Moonlight Children's Hospitals in regions where they are most needed.

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare on January 5, the number of Moonlight Children's Hospitals has increased fifteenfold from 9 in 2014 to 135 as of this month. However, out of 252 cities, counties, and districts nationwide (including administrative districts), only 97 have a Moonlight Children's Hospital. A total of 44.4% (60 hospitals) are concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon, highlighting the urgent need to resolve regional disparities.

In particular, some local governments such as North Gyeongsang Province and South Jeolla Province have populations in the hundreds of thousands, yet there are no institutions within a 20 to 30 kilometer radius that provide nighttime pediatric care. For example, Gyeongsan in North Gyeongsang Province and Yeosu in South Jeolla Province each have populations of about 270,000, but neither has a single hospital or clinic designated as a Moonlight Children's Hospital.

The government has identified low profitability and recruitment difficulties as reasons for the regional imbalance of Moonlight Children's Hospitals. The medical community shares a similar view. According to a survey by the Korean Association of Pediatric Hospitals last year, hospitals that did not participate in the Moonlight Children's Hospital system most frequently cited "difficulty in securing nighttime and holiday staff (42%)" as the main reason, followed by "lack of reimbursement for operating expenses (25%)."

In response, the Ministry of Health and Welfare will provide annual support of 120 million won to local pediatric hospitals and clinics that newly start nighttime care this year. The target is 30 pediatric hospitals and clinics in areas without a Moonlight Children's Hospital. Through this, the government plans to nurture these hospitals and clinics into Moonlight Children's Hospitals in the future.

The uniform qualification and operating standards for Moonlight Children's Hospitals will also be diversified according to the characteristics of each region and hospital or clinic. The Ministry of Health and Welfare is currently conducting a research project, recognizing that the current qualification and operating standards are difficult for small local hospitals and clinics to meet. The research topics include: ▲ diversification of current designation criteria and operating hours ▲ differentiation of roles by hospital and clinic type ▲ cooperation measures with other systems ▲ presentation of multi-layered operating models considering regional conditions ▲ expansion and differentiation of operating expense support ▲ improvement of reimbursement rates ▲ development of financial and administrative support measures. The Ministry expects the research project to be completed around May and plans to establish new standards within this year.

A Ministry of Health and Welfare official stated, "Although there has been quantitative growth, with 33 additional Moonlight Children's Hospitals designated in 2025 alone, challenges such as resolving regional imbalances still remain. We understand the difficulties faced by local medical sites with low participation, and we will actively work to fill gaps in nighttime and holiday pediatric care based on the results of ongoing research and expert opinions."

The Moonlight Children's Hospital system was introduced to address gaps in nighttime pediatric care and prevent overcrowding in emergency rooms. The aim is to provide specialized pediatric care with lower medical costs and shorter waiting times compared to emergency rooms. On weekdays, services are available until 11 p.m. or midnight, and on weekends and public holidays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., for patients under the age of 18.