Nine out of 10 maternity clinics in Korea report no childbirth in first half of this year

Nine out of 10 maternity clinics in Korea reported no childbirth at all in the first half of this year. Yonhap News

In the first half of this year, nine out of 10 maternity clinics nationwide reported no childbirth at all. In Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, there have been no records of maternity clinics billing for delivery fees for three years since 2022. As the low birth rate increases, the number of births itself decreases significantly and the number of obstetrics and gynecology clinics decreases, making it increasingly difficult to find a place to give birth.

According to data released by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on September 19, 88.4 percent of maternity clinics did not bill for delivery fees from January to July this year. This is an increase of 6.2 percentage points from 2018.

By July, there were 10 local governments with an average of less than one delivery fee claim per month. These are Seo-gu of Daegu, Manan-gu of Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, Yeongwol-gun and Taebaek of Gangwon Province, Gochang-gun and Kimje of North Jeolla Province, Goheung-gun and Wando-gun of South Jeolla Province, Nam-gu of Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, and Hadong-gun of South Gyeongsang Province. In Gwangju and South Jeolla Province, no maternity clinics have billed for delivery fees since 2022. As of 2022, there were 36 maternity clinics in Gwangju and 18 in South Jeolla Province.

Among the large hospitals, more than 10 percent did not have obstetricians and gynecologists at all. Of the 331 general hospitals with more than 100 beds, 11.5 percent (38 hospitals) had no obstetricians and gynecologists. According to the medical law, hospitals with more than 100 beds and less than 300 beds are required to have three medical departments: internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, and obstetrics and gynecology, but many hospitals have other essential medical departments instead of obstetrics and gynecology.

On September 14, during the Chuseok holiday, a 25-week pregnant woman in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, needed to get to a hospital quickly because her waters broke, but 75 hospitals refused to accept her, and she had to wait six hours in an ambulance before receiving treatment.

The number of medical institutions for giving birth decreased by 130, from 555 in 2018 to 425 this year. The number of the institutions has been declining in all regions except Sejong.

Park Hee-seung, lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Korea, said, “The number of obstetricians and gynecologists and medical institutions for giving birth is decreasing due to the low birthrate and lack of practical support measures for maternity clinics. In order to create a stable birth environment and cope with emergencies, regional infrastructure for delivery should be maintained and expanded."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.