Ulju Hospital Opens, Expected to End Seven-Year Healthcare Gap in Southern Ulju County

【Financial News Ulsan = Reporter Choi Soo-sang】 Ulju Hospital, a county-run hospital established by Ulju County to address the seven-year healthcare gap in southern Ulsan’s Ulju County, opened its doors and began providing medical services on the 4th. The project was launched as a pledge by Lee Soon-geol, who was elected head of Ulju County during the eighth popularly elected administration, and the hospital finally opened during the ninth administration after numerous difficulties.
Its official name is “Ulju Hospital, Ulju County, Ulsan Metropolitan City.” The hospital was built at 233 Deoknam-ro, Onyang-eup, Ulju County, with a total floor area of 7,778.44 square meters. It has one basement level and seven floors above ground. Major facilities include an emergency room, health screening center, artificial kidney unit, operating rooms and consultation rooms. The hospital employs 77 people, including 39 residents of Ulju County, contributing to the creation of local jobs.
Ulju County established and owns Ulju Hospital, while the On Group Medical Foundation, which operates On General Hospital in Busan, will manage and operate it under a five-year contract. Initially, the hospital will operate five departments—including internal medicine, surgery, family medicine, radiology and anesthesiology and pain medicine—with 55 beds. It plans to open an orthopedic department in the middle of this month and begin operating its artificial kidney unit at the end of the month. Essential medical services, including the emergency room, will then be expanded in stages starting next month. The hospital aims to operate 100 beds across up to eight departments and plans to increase its staff to as many as 148 people as its medical services expand.
Medical services begin at 9 a.m. and run until 6 p.m. on Mondays, 5 p.m. from Tuesday through Friday, and 1 p.m. on Saturdays. The weekday lunch break is from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. The hospital is closed on Sundays.
With the opening of Ulju Hospital, residents of southern Ulju County who previously had to travel to urban hospitals because of the shortage of local medical institutions are expected to face far fewer difficulties in accessing care. In particular, the lack of emergency rooms for critically ill patients had created a major healthcare gap in southern areas such as Onsan-eup, Onyang-eup and Seosaeng-myeon. Patients had to travel to areas such as Gijang, Busan, or Nam-gu, Ulsan, journeys that took at least 30 to 40 minutes. Some patients also missed the critical window for treatment.

The hospital’s first patient, Jeong Gi-jo, 70, of Namchang-ri, Onyang-eup, said, “It was extremely inconvenient because there was no major hospital in our area, and it took more than 30 minutes to reach downtown Ulsan or other areas. I am very pleased that Ulju Hospital has opened close to home, and I expect it will greatly contribute to the health and safety of local residents.”
Ulju Hospital Director Jung Jong-hoon said, “We will become a hospital that continues to grow in line with residents’ expectations and needs.”
Ulju County Head Lee Soon-geol stated, “It is deeply meaningful that Ulju Hospital, a long-held wish of residents in the southern area, has begun providing its first medical services. We will do our utmost to address any shortcomings one by one and make it a public hospital that residents can trust and visit with confidence.”

[email protected] Choi Soo-sang Reporter