Health ministry adds five clinics to expand pediatric night care

The health ministry said Monday it has selected five additional medical clinics to provide pediatric care during evenings and holidays in underserved areas.

The newly designated facilities are located in Busanjin-gu and Buk-gu in Busan, Gyeyang-gu in Incheon, Gyeongsan in North Gyeongsang Province, and Hamyang in South Gyeongsang Province. They join 13 other institutions that began operating under the program earlier this year.

Each clinic will receive 120 million won in annual operating subsidies, split equally between national and local governments. In exchange, providers must coordinate with local authorities to offer at least 20 hours of weekly coverage, including weekday nights, weekends and public holidays.

Unlike existing Moonlight Children's Hospitals, which maintain fixed seven-day schedules, these clinics can adjust operating hours based on local demand.

The expansion follows a recent public consultation where 77.1 percent of participants argued that evening and holiday pediatric care should be guaranteed within their own municipalities.

Son Young-rae, head of the ministry's regional essential public healthcare division, emphasized the urgency of the issue. "It is a natural and desperate voice of the people that they should be able to receive pediatric care without traveling to distant areas even at night or on holidays," he said.