Fire and Military Helicopters to Be Deployed for High-Risk and Emergency Obstetric Patient Transfers

Ministry of Health and Welfare to Expand Critical Maternal and Child Medical Centers from 2 to 6 Nationwide
New Cooperation Systems to Be Established in Chungcheong, Jeonbuk, and Jeju Regions by Year-End
National Compensation for Delivery Accidents to Cover Severe Maternal Disabilities

Going forward, when a pregnant woman calls 119, she will first be transported to the hospital she usually attends. If the hospital is unable to provide care, the regional maternal and neonatal care network will be activated immediately, including regional maternal and child medical centers. High-risk or emergency obstetric patients will be safely transported between hospitals using 119 ambulances. If long-distance transfer is necessary, doctor helicopters, fire helicopters, and military helicopters will be mobilized as needed.

Yonhap News

On May 26, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reported to the Cabinet Meeting on the "Improvement Plan for High-Risk Pregnant Women, Newborns, and Emergency Medical Systems." This plan was established to build a rapid transfer and transportation system and to reduce the legal burden on medical staff in response to the increase in high-risk deliveries, such as those involving older mothers and premature infants, and the continued incidents of patients failing to receive timely care due to shortages of specialists.

Nationwide Expansion of Regional Maternal and Child Medical Networks by Year-End

The government will first expand the current "Maternal and Child Medical Care Cooperation Pilot Project," which is operating in nine regions, to include the Chungcheong, Jeonbuk, and Jeju regions, achieving nationwide coverage by the end of the year. This is intended to ensure that high-risk patients can receive treatment as close to home as possible through cooperation between local higher-level institutions and maternity hospitals.

In addition, the dedicated transfer team at the Central Maternal and Child Medical Center at the National Medical Center will have its staff increased from five to fifteen, tripling its capacity to handle multiple transfer requests simultaneously. Starting next month, a "Maternal and Child Medical Information System" will be launched to enable simultaneous inquiries about bed availability at multiple hospitals, significantly reducing the time required to select an appropriate hospital.

High-risk or emergency obstetric patients will be safely transported between hospitals by 119 ambulances. For long-distance transfers, helicopters owned by the government—including doctor helicopters, fire helicopters, and military helicopters—will be jointly used for rapid transportation. When a pregnant woman calls 119, she will first be transported to her usual hospital. If that hospital cannot provide the necessary care, the networked cooperation system, including maternal and child medical centers, will be activated. If the situation cannot be resolved within the region, the Central Maternal and Child Medical Center's transfer team and the Central 119 Emergency Control Center will cooperate to promptly select a hospital.

To minimize gaps in night and holiday care, personnel standards will be relaxed to allow specialists from local maternity hospitals to work on-call or part-time at regional maternal and child medical centers. Additional health insurance support will be provided to maternal and child medical centers based on factors such as gestational age, the condition of premature infants, and whether the facility is outside the greater Seoul area.

To ensure that specialized medical care is genuinely available, the roles and obligations of maternal and child medical centers at each level (critical, regional, local) will be clearly defined and evaluated based on actual care capacity and performance. In particular, the "Critical Maternal and Child Medical Center," which is currently limited to two locations in Seoul and has been insufficient for nationwide response, will be designated in the Southeast, Daegu-Gyeongbuk, Central, and Honam regions as well—eventually expanding to a total of six centers nationwide.

Furthermore, performance-based post-compensation systems will be introduced starting with regional centers in non-metropolitan areas with poor conditions, and the government will provide wage support if retired (senior) doctors are hired. The government will also pursue increasing the number of full-time faculty in obstetrics at national university hospitals and similar institutions.

'Prosecution Restrictions for Criminal Liability' to Apply from May Next Year

Measures to reduce the judicial burden on medical staff and enable them to provide care with peace of mind have also been prepared. Starting in June, the scope of support for high-premium medical liability insurance (covering up to 1.7 billion won) will be expanded from essential-care specialists such as obstetricians to include emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit specialists as well.

The scope of national compensation for unavoidable delivery accidents where the physician is not at fault will also be expanded. In addition to cases of cerebral palsy and death or maternal death, cases where the mother suffers a severe disability (up to 150 million won) will also be eligible for compensation.

In particular, when the amended "Medical Dispute Mediation Act" comes into effect in May next year, prosecution will be restricted or sentences may be reduced for incidents arising from essential medical practices that do not involve gross negligence. The government also intends to work with the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency to promptly apply improved investigation procedures in the field even before the law takes effect. The Ministry of Health and Welfare will establish a "Medical Accident Review Committee" to conduct a preliminary review of criminal medical accident cases, and during the review period, investigative agencies will be asked to refrain from summoning medical professionals, thereby reducing their criminal liability burden.

To prevent ambulances carrying patients from wasting time on the road because they cannot find a hospital, the "Innovative Transfer System Model"—which has proven effective in the Gwangju and Jeolla regions—will be rapidly expanded nationwide within the third quarter of this year. In this model, local hospitals pre-agree on patient acceptance principles, and if the issue cannot be resolved locally, the regional emergency situation room intervenes immediately to coordinate transfers and admissions on a national level. The government will finalize customized guidelines reflecting the specifics of each local government by July and implement them across the country before September.

Minister of Health and Welfare Chung Eun-kyung emphasized, "Through these measures, we will efficiently coordinate medical resources on the ground and reduce the judicial burden on medical professionals, creating a safer environment for both citizens and medical staff. We will ensure that pregnant women, newborns, and emergency patients nationwide are transported safely and receive the best possible care without fail."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.