President Yoon Suk Yeol reaffirmed his commitment to healthcare reform.

Yoon reiterated that the government will invest more than 30 trillion won ($21.8 billion) over the next five years to realize a “complete regional essential healthcare system,” requesting the National Assembly to finalize the related budget.

The chief executive made the remark in his budget address, which Prime Minister Han Duck-soo read at a National Assembly plenary session on Thursday.

Stressing that the four major reforms, including healthcare reform, are “urgent tasks that must be done immediately for the nation's survival,” Yoon said his administration would “complete the four reforms no matter what difficulties lie ahead.”

“To this end, we will speed up the restructuring of tertiary general hospitals and reforming unreimbursed treatment and actual loss insurance,” he said.

President Yoon said the government will invest more than 30 trillion won over the next five years to expand the medical workforce, strengthen regional medical care, establish a safety net for medical accidents, and promote fairness in the compensation system, citing them as the four major tasks of healthcare reform.

In particular, the government plans to invest in five areas:

ㆍExpanding the medical workforce

ㆍProviding essential medical care

ㆍFostering local medical care

ㆍEstablishing a medical accident safety net

ㆍPromoting R&D for essential medical care

“We will strengthen the fiscal role in expanding essential medical care and restoring regional medical care so that people can receive quality medical care no matter where they live in Korea,” President Yoon said. “We will revitalize regional and essential medical care and thoroughly prepare for future medical needs.”

To this end, the government will significantly expand financial support from 800 billion won this year to 2 trillion won next year and invest 30 trillion won over the next five years, including 10 trillion won from the national treasury,” Yoon said.

“To eradicate drug crimes, which have recently spread to the youth, we have increased the relevant budget (for next year) by more than 20 percent from this year,” Yoo said. “We will strengthen crackdowns and actively support treatment, rehabilitation, and prevention.”

“The government's budget proposal for next year has been prepared with the priority of supporting people's livelihoods and focusing on structural reforms to improve the country's condition for the future,” he said. “I ask the National Assembly to finalize the budget within the legal deadline so that next year's budget can be implemented promptly and benefit the people.”