No Dalbit Children's Hospitals for Nighttime or Holiday Care in Suseong-gu and Gunwi, Daegu... Councilor Jongwoo Ryu Urges Measures

Daegu City Councilor Jongwoo Ryu (People Power Party, Buk-gu 1) announced on the 6th that, through a written municipal administration inquiry, he has examined the designation and operation status of Daegu Dalbit Children's Hospitals and urged the establishment of effective measures to improve access to pediatric care by region and to ensure stable operations.

Dalbit Children's Hospitals are facilities that provide treatment for pediatric patients with mild symptoms during weekday evenings and holidays.

Daegu City Council Member Jongwoo Ryu

Daegu was the first city in the country to launch the Dalbit Children's Hospital program in 2012, but as of September 2026, only six hospitals have been officially designated. Suseong-gu, which has a large population of children and adolescents, has not had an officially designated Dalbit Children's Hospital since around 2016, when the previously participating hospital ceased operations. In Gunwi-gun, there is also a significant gap in access to healthcare services by region, as it takes about 50 minutes to one hour by car just to reach the nearest Dalbit Children's Hospital in Buk-gu.

Additionally, most Dalbit Children's Hospitals are staffed by only a small number of medical personnel for night and holiday shifts, which means that if staff resign or transfer, this could lead to reduced consultation hours or increased workload.

Moreover, problems in the service process such as long waiting times and inconvenience when registering have also been raised, highlighting not only the need to expand the number of such hospitals, but also the growing necessity for quality management and stability in medical services.

Jongwoo Ryu stated, "Dalbit Children's Hospital is not just a project to increase the number of designated hospitals, but rather a regionally essential medical safety net that allows citizens to reliably access care for their children during suddenly arising illnesses on weekday evenings or holidays." He stressed, "It is necessary to properly allocate these hospitals in consideration of factors such as local population demographics of children and adolescents, as well as travel distances."

Councilor Ryu further said, "We must establish measures to resolve the prolonged gap in pediatric nighttime and holiday medical care in Suseong-gu and the low level of medical accessibility in Gunwi-gun. Additionally, the reasons for delays in designating Daegu Medical Center as a Dalbit Children's Hospital and the future designation schedule must be clarified." He added, "It is also necessary to continuously monitor the actual operational status, including medical staff levels, patient numbers, and average wait times, and to develop a management system that can lead to service improvements."

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