Last maternity ward in Miryang closes, forcing pregnant women to travel elsewhere to give birth
gettyimagesbank
The last remaining maternity hospital in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, is set to close next month after 40 years of serving the local community, raising concerns that the collapse of regional maternity care could further accelerate the decline of the nation’s provincial areas.
Annual deliveries in Miryang plunge from 400 to 100
Opened in 1986, Miryang Jeil Hospital has been one of the largest hospitals in the region, with 79 beds and departments of obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics and internal medicine. It has handled more than 20,000 deliveries since it opened.
In recent years, however, the medical staff operating the hospital’s delivery unit dwindled to just two doctors: the hospital’s director, who is in his 70s, and an obstetrician in his 60s. When the obstetrician announced his intention to leave the hospital, the director decided he had no choice but to close the hospital.
The hospital was already in a precarious financial position due to the nation’s low birthrate. As Miryang’s population fell below the 100,000 mark for the first time last year, the number of deliveries also dropped sharply, from an annual average of 400 to around 100. The hospital handled 108 deliveries last year and 58 as of June this year.
In an attempt to retain the city’s last delivery unit, the city government has provided the hospital with an annual subsidy of 500 million won (approximately $361,000) since 2013. Despite the subsidy, however, the hospital continued to run a monthly deficit of around 150 million won.
South Gyeongsang Province is expected to face a widening gap in maternity care once the unit closes, with pregnant women in Miryang forced to travel to hospitals in nearby cities such as Yangsan or Busan to give birth. Many women in the province already have to travel for childbirth, as eight counties — Uiryeong, Hamyang, Sancheong, Changnyeong, Goseong, Haman, Namhae and Hapcheon — have no maternity hospitals.
The Miryang city government announced that it will establish an emergency response system to prepare for the hospital's closure, including preregistering pregnant women for the 119 Safety Call service and operating seven ambulances equipped to handle emergency deliveries.
Lack of maternity facilities leaves high-risk patients scrambling for care
Miryang is just the latest example of a nationwide phenomenon in which the low birthrate worsen the finances of maternity hospitals in rural areas, forcing them to close, which in turn accelerates the decline of the nation’s countryside.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and other authorities, the number of medical institutions offering delivery services nationwide stood at 436 last year, down 29.7 percent from 620 in 2015. Of the country’s 252 cities, counties and districts, 84, or 33.3 percent, have no medical institutions offering delivery services. Of the 32 areas designated by the government this year as lacking adequate access to maternity care, 31 have no facilities capable of handling deliveries.
In Jeju, Seohae Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic, which has provided maternity care in the region for 27 years, is also set to close at the end of this month. It handled around 1,000 deliveries annually, accounting for one-third of all births on the island. However, the clinic decided to close after struggling with a shortage of medical staff willing to shoulder the burden of around-the-clock emergency coverage. Once it closes, only six maternity hospitals will remain on Jeju Island.
As delivery units dwindle in the nation’s provincial areas, women with high-risk pregnancies continue to be turned away from emergency rooms. In May, a woman who was 29 weeks pregnant in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, was refused admission by five major hospitals and transported as far as Busan. She lost the pregnancy. In Jeju, nine women with high-risk pregnancies were airlifted to hospitals outside the province in 2024, and the number doubled to 18 last year. So far this year, 10 women have been airlifted to hospitals in other regions.
Calls for reforms to bolster regional maternity care
Local governments are rolling out a range of support measures to prevent gaps in maternity care. In Gangwon Province, where 13 of its 18 cities and counties are designated as areas lacking adequate access to childbirth services, the provincial government is working with fire authorities to operate a rapid transport network through the 119 Safety Call service. North Gyeongsang Province has also established a cooperative network with 69 medical institutions and operates its “OB-GYN and pediatrics ONE-hour care system,” which provides access to essential medical care within one hour.
Experts, however, say fundamental structural reforms at the national level are urgently needed to prevent further gaps in regional maternity care. Proposed measures include expanding financial support by introducing new reimbursement rates for provincial maternity facilities and providing greater compensation for high-risk deliveries. They also called for institutional safeguards under which the state would assume full responsibility for maternity care disputes, including cases in which pregnant women are repeatedly turned away from emergency rooms.
“Regional maternity care infrastructure is collapsing completely due to operating losses caused by the low birthrate and a shortage of medical personnel, including OB-GYNs,” a regional medical official said. “Unless the government dramatically expands public maternity care infrastructure at regional hubs and provides substantial compensation for delivery services, it will only be a matter of time before the remaining maternity facilities in provincial areas disappear.”
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.