1 out of 10 paediatric clinics in Seoul shut since 2017 amid low fertility and profits
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The number of paediatric clinics decreased to 456 in Seoul last year, down 12.5 per cent from 521 in 2017.
PHOTO: PIXABAY
SEOUL - One in 10 paediatric clinics in Seoul has closed in the past five years due to Korea’s low birth rate and chronic low profitability, data showed on Wednesday.
According to a report released by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of paediatric clinics decreased to 456 in Seoul last year, down 12.5 per cent from 521 in 2017.
While the clinics face an ultra-low birth rate, the government has also frozen doctor appointment fees for over 30 years.
Dr Lim Hyun-taek, chairman of the Korean Paediatric Association, said at a press conference in March that it is “difficult to operate paediatric clinics any more”.
Compared to other departments of medicine, paediatrics only receives doctor appointment fees since there are no additional fees outside of those covered by health insurance, he said.
Dr Lim said costs to see a paediatrician in Korea are “only 5 per cent compared to that in the United States” and are “even lower than those of Cambodia and China”.
This requires the hospital to receive at least 80 patients a day to maintain business, but the decreasing birth rate makes it impossible, he said.
By department, the number of radiology clinics also decreased by 2.4 per cent from 2017 to 2022.
Meanwhile, the number of psychiatry, anaesthesiology and cardiothoracic surgery clinics increased.
The number of psychiatry clinics increased by around 77 per cent from 302 to 534 during the same period. It was followed by a 41 per cent increase in anaesthesiology clinics and 37.5 per cent increase in cardiothoracic surgery clinics. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
