Competition for reservations is fierce due to shortage of public postpartum care centers in Seoul and Gyeonggi... Support for private usage fees is also limited

"The hospital and my parents' home are in Gangnam, so I looked into postpartum care centers nearby, but most of them were around 8 to 10 million won. I found the cheapest place and made a reservation for a postpartum care center that cost around 7 million won."

Yumo (33), who is scheduled to give birth in October, said this as she recalled the sky-high prices of postpartum care centers in the Gangnam area ahead of making a reservation.

Postpartum care centers that help with newborn care, early parenting education, and maternal health recovery are part of Korea's unique culture. Mothers usually stay in a postpartum care center for about two weeks after giving birth.

According to data received from the Ministry of Health and Welfare by the office of Rep. Lee Joo-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea on the 27th, the average price of private postpartum care centers in Seoul was 5.43 million won.

By region, Jeju was the most expensive at 4.15 million won, followed by Gwangju at 4.14 million won, Sejong at 4.13 million won, Gyeonggi at 3.89 million won, Incheon at 3.59 million won, Busan at 3.49 million won, and Daejeon and Ulsan at 3.41 million won.

Ms. Lee (34), who made a reservation at a cooking center in Ilsan, Gyeonggi-do, for around 5 million won ahead of giving birth in November, said, "I heard that a cesarean section takes longer to recover than a natural birth, so I made a reservation at a place that takes good care of my condition," and added, "I found a place that even canceled this because it was so popular."

As the high cost structure of postpartum care centers emerged as a problem in an atmosphere of low birth rates, public postpartum care centers emerged as an alternative.

The average cost of public postpartum care centers is only half of that of private postpartum care centers.

Looking at the average price of public postnatal care centers by region, Seoul is 2.29 million won, Ulsan 1.89 million won, South Chungcheong 1.82 million won, Gangwon and Jeonbuk 1.8 million won, Gyeongbuk 1.76 million won, Gyeonggi 1.68 million won, Jeonnam and Gyeongnam 1.6 million won, Jeju 1.54 million won, and Chungbuk 950,000 won.

However, as of the end of June this year, there were only 29 public postpartum care centers nationwide.

Of these, Gangwon accounted for 8 and Jeonnam accounted for 7, accounting for about half.

In fact, only two are in operation each in Seoul and Gyeonggi, which have a population of around 10 million.

In addition, there are three in Gyeongbuk, two in South Chungcheong, and one each in Ulsan, North Chungcheong, Jeonbuk, Gyeongnam, and Jeju, and there are no public kitchen centers in Busan, Daegu, Incheon, Gwangju, and Sejong.

The first priority for public care centers is people who have lived in an autonomous district for more than one year and belong to vulnerable groups, such as the disabled or people of national merit. General mothers who have lived here for more than a year are ranked second.

Even if you obtain the relevant qualifications, you must succeed in ‘ticketing’. In particular, competition for applications is fierce in the Seoul and Gyeonggi regions, where there are fewer public kitchen centers compared to the population.

The application rate for public postpartum care centers in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, was the highest at 9.4 to 1, followed by Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province and Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, respectively, at 3.4 to 1, and Songpa-gu, Seoul, at 2.6 to 1.

Park (34), a pregnant woman living in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, confessed, "I was looking for a public postpartum care center because the price was burdensome, but there were no places I could apply. There are only two places in Seoul, so I can't go even if I want to."

You can usually make a reservation three months before giving birth, but due to the influx of applicants, it is often difficult to make a reservation. There are some local governments where first-time mothers cannot apply.

The availability of duplicate applications varies depending on the district, so even if you want to use a public postpartum care center, there are many restrictions before you can actually use it.

To resolve this situation, the city of Seoul is expanding the 'Seoul-type Safe Postpartum Care Center' by subsidizing usage fees in cooperation with private postpartum care centers within the city.

It uses existing private facilities, but the city of Seoul supports a portion of the usage fee and operating costs.

The standard usage fee for two weeks is 3.9 million won. Among these, the Seoul Metropolitan Government provides 1.4 million won, lowering the out-of-pocket cost for an average mother to 2.5 million won.

However, it is known that it is difficult for first-time mothers to overcome competition and use this system because the priorities are set such as recipients of national basic livelihood security or the next lowest class (1st priority), mothers of national meritorious or May 18 democracy activists or their bereaved families, mothers of single-parent families, mothers of triplets (or third child) or more (2nd priority), and mothers of twins (or second child) (3rd priority).