The number of pediatric hospitals open at night and on holidays in Gyeonggi Province is set to increase from two in Pyeongtaek and Yongin to four in Pyeongtaek, Yongin, Siheung and Goyang.

Gyeonggi Province announced on January 3 that it had selected four hospitals – Sungse Children’s Hospital in Pyeongtaek, Kangnam General Hospital in Yongin, Central Hospital in Siheung, and Ilsan Wooridul Pediatric Hospital in Goyang – as Moonlight Pediatric Hospitals. In October of last year, the province publicly recruited hospitals to be designated as Moonlight Pediatric Hospitals with the above four hospitals applying for the project.

The Moonlight Pediatric Hospital project has been implemented since 2014 by Gyeonggi Province and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Moonlight Pediatric Hospitals are children and youth clinics and hospitals that are open for extended hours on weekends and holidays. In Gyeonggi Province, Sungse Children’s Hospital in Pyeongtaek and Kangnam General Hospital in Yongin have been operating as Moonlight Pediatric Hospitals.

The project was launched to reduce the inconveniences faced by parents – such as excessive amounts of time looking for hospitals, high medical expenses due to emergency room visits, and long wait times – as there are few hospitals open at night and on holidays.

Of 178,873 cases of medical services provided by Sungse Children’s Hospital in Pyeongtaek in 2015, 34,308 were performed on weekday nights and 62,851 on weekends and public holidays, accounting for 54% of the total. Similarly, 48% of the medical services at Kangnam General Hospital in Yongin were also provided on weekday nights, weekends and holidays.

As the number of patients visiting hospitals at night or on holidays continues to increase, Gyeonggi Province and the Ministry of Health and Welfare have diversified participation models to include a joint operation system in which neighboring hospitals provide such services in turn, and a day-based operation system in which hospitals are open at night or on holidays on certain days. In addition, requirements were also relaxed so as to accept all hospitals that can provide medical services for children and youths.

The Moonlight service hours of the four hospitals are as follows: 18:00 to 23:00 on weekdays, 9:00 to 23:00 on Saturdays, and 9:00 to 18:00 on Sundays at Sungse Children’s Hospital in Pyeongtaek; 18:00 to 24:00 on weekdays, and 9:00 to 24:00 on Saturdays and Sundays at Kangnam General Hospital in Yongin; and 18:00 to 23:00 on weekdays, 8:00 to 18:00 on Saturdays, and 9:00 to 18:00 on Sundays at Ilsan Wooridul Pediatric Hospital in Goyang. Central Hospital in Siheung provides Moonlight services from 18:00 to 24:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and from 9:00 to 24:00 on Saturdays as it operates on a day-based system.

A list of Moonlight Pediatric Hospitals outside of Gyeonggi Province and their hours of operation are available from the websites of the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Emergency Medical Information Center (www.e-gen.or.kr) or via related smartphone applications.