“A Long Search for a Hospital”: 40% of Critically Ill Children Travel Outside Their Medical Region

More than four in 10 critically ill children in South Korea had to leave their local medical service region to find care, data submitted to a lawmaker showed.

The overall local treatment rate for pediatric inpatients stood at 79%. The rate was 80.5% for mild cases but fell to 59.7% for severe cases. The rate measures the share of patients who use medical services within the region where they live.

The gap was especially stark in some areas. The severe-case local treatment rate stood at just 0.3% in Nonsan. It was 6.8% in Gimhae, 5.7% in Jecheon, 4.2% in Dangjin and 4.1% in Pyeongtaek. Several other regions also recorded rates below 10%, including Siheung, Jeongeup, Seosan, Hongseong, Mungyeong, Icheon, Goseong, Sokcho, Gimcheon and Haenam.

In total, 43 of the country’s 60 medical regions, or 71.7%, had a local treatment rate below 50% for critically ill children. The report noted that severe pediatric care requires specialized staff and facilities, making it difficult for every medical region to handle such cases independently.