Gyeonggi Province expected to maintain postpartum care expenses business… Budget restoration agreement during supplementary budget negotiations

Gyeonggi Province is expected to maintain the postpartum care expenses project, which even led to a petition for Governor Choo Mi-ae's resignation.

An official from the Gyeonggi Province Health and Health Department said on the 5th, "On the 30th of last month, we sent an official letter to 31 cities and counties to request that they accept applications for postpartum care expenses as before to avoid any inconvenience to civil servants."

This official explained, “Negotiations on the supplementary budget with the Provincial Council are still in progress, but I understand that they have agreed to some extent on restoring the budget for postnatal care expenses,” and added, “We sent an official document on the premise of restoring the budget.”

Previously, Gyeonggi Province prepared a supplementary budget by cutting 3.62 billion won from the three-month postnatal care expenses budget for October to December, and sent an official letter to cities and counties on the 9th of last month stating that applications for postnatal care expenses would not be possible from October.

For postpartum care expenses, 500,000 won per child is supported in local currency, and Gyeonggi Province and cities and counties share half of the project cost.

You can apply through your town/village/dong community center or the Gyeonggi Civil Service 24 website, and payment will be made within 14 days.

It is known that Gyeonggi Province plans to request cities and counties to prioritize project expenses if the Provincial Council's supplementary budget is delayed.

Gyeonggi Province decided to terminate the postnatal care support project after operating it only up to the amount applied for last month due to the establishment and expansion of similar support systems such as the government's 'First Meeting Voucher' and city and county childbirth subsidies. However, this drew backlash from residents, with not only a petition opposing the termination of the project but even a petition for Governor Chu's resignation posted on the 'Gyeonggi Provincial Petition' website.

As of today, more than 26,000 residents have agreed to the petition 'Opposition to the surprise abolition of postnatal care fees' posted on the 9th of last month, and the governor must personally respond to petitions that receive more than 10,000 signatures during the 30-day comment period.