Yeom Tae-young: "Public healthcare is essential to basic society...unable to understand Democratic Party local government's decision"

The Gyeonggi-do Anseong Rest Area Clinic, the only public healthcare facility operated at a rest stop on the nation's expressways, closed its doors on August 31 citing operational difficulties, and calls for reversal of this decision continue.

The Anseong Rest Area Clinic was a public healthcare facility that opened in July 2021 at the Anseong rest stop heading toward Seoul on the Gyeongbu Expressway. However, it began suffering losses, with a net loss of approximately 438 million won recorded as of last year, leading to the termination of the management contract with Gyeonggi Province Medical Center and suspension of operations.

In response, Rep. Yeom Tae-young (Democratic Party, Suwon District) posted on his Facebook account on the 6th, stating that the direction of the Lee Jae-myeong government's state administration and Gyeonggi Province's governance should not diverge, emphasizing that public healthcare is an essential welfare facility for residents and the most basic social safety net of fundamental society, and should be operated normally.

Rep. Yeom further stated that given the urgent need to attract a Gyeonggi Medical Center to the northern and eastern regions of Gyeonggi Province, he requests reconsideration of the normalization of operations at Gyeonggi Medical Center and the decision to close the Anseong Rest Area Clinic.

Rep. Yeom also recalled the case of the closure of Jinju Medical Center by former Gyeongnam Gov. Hong Joon-pyo about ten years ago, noting that public healthcare must be maintained in medical blind spots even if it does not generate profit, as it is an essential facility of basic society, and expressing difficulty in understanding the decision by the Democratic Party local government to close a public healthcare institution with improving profitability and utilization.

During the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly Health and Welfare Committee's briefing on pending matters on the 7th, provincial assembly members pointed out that the Anseong Rest Area Clinic properly served medical functions not only for rest stop users but also nearby residents, and that operational closure should not be decided based on economic feasibility.

Provincial Assembly Member Lee Gun-hee (Democratic Party, Namyangju District 1) stated, "The decision on whether to cease operations should be made carefully, taking into account residents' medical accessibility and the overall regional public healthcare system, not from a simple cost-reduction perspective."

A petition titled "Please withdraw the cessation of Gyeonggi-do Anseong Rest Area Clinic operations and maintain local public healthcare" was also posted on Cheong Weon 24.

The petition stated, "We strongly request that Gyeonggi Province prioritize the lives and health of residents, withdraw the plan to cease operations at the Gyeonggi-do Anseong Rest Area Clinic, and establish active measures to ensure continuous operation."

The Anseong Rest Area Clinic provided essential medical services to freight truck drivers suffering from musculoskeletal disorders from long-distance driving through a freight truck driver lounge, and has been utilized by residents in the western region of Anseong, including Wongok-myeon, Anseong City, an area with a medical blind spot.