Concentration of veterans in the metropolitan area, lack of vacancies in nursing homes... Rep. Park Sang-hyuk urges ‘measures to expand facilities and secure manpower’

Representative Park Sang-hyuk of the Democratic Party of Korea announced on the 1st that although many veterans aged 65 or older live in the metropolitan area, the number of veterans nursing homes is larger in rural areas, so the system needs to be improved.

According to data submitted by Rep. Park, a member of the National Assembly's Political Affairs Committee, from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, as of June this year, of the 629,839 veterans, 283,290 lived in the metropolitan area, accounting for 45% of the total.

On the other hand, of the 1,628 people in eight veterans nursing homes across the country, only 428 people were in the metropolitan area, or 26% of the total.

When converted to the number of local veterans per nursing home capacity, the metropolitan area had 662 people and the Jeonbuk area had 119, a difference of about 5.6 times. The North Chungcheong region (19,439 people) and the Jeju region (9,252 people) do not have veterans nursing homes at all.

As the supply of veterans nursing homes cannot keep up with demand, it was found that 1,073 people, or 86% of the 1,173 people waiting to be admitted to veterans nursing homes, are concentrated in the metropolitan area.

The waiting time for admission to a nursing home was also longer in the metropolitan area, Suwon and Namyangju, at 3 to 12 months, compared to 1 to 3 months in other regions.

Separately, in the case of local veterans' nursing homes excluding the metropolitan area, it was found that there was a waiting list due to a problem with nursing staff even though the capacity was not fully filled.

For example, in Jeonju, 153 people are admitted for a capacity of 200, in Daegu, 181 people are admitted for a capacity of 200, and in Daejeon, 183 people are admitted for a capacity of 200. There are still seats available, but 85 people are still waiting to be admitted.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs responded to the lawmaker's office by saying, "We need one caregiver for every two residents, but hiring a caregiver is not easy."

Representative Park Sang-hyuk said, “If the waiting time varies greatly depending on where you live, it is difficult to say that the treatment is being treated evenly.” He added, “Through the government audit and next year’s budget review, we will jointly prepare measures to expand nursing facilities in the metropolitan area and secure care workers.”