South Korea's Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to roll out AI-based systems across regional medical centres in the country with a 14.2 billion won ($10 million) investment.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT
Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong said that the investment was set aside from the 2026 budget to deploy commercial AI systems to all 17 central hospitals in the regions — primarily university hospitals that plan, oversee, and coordinate care in the regions.
These include AI systems that enhance patient safety and increase clinical precision and treatment efficacy.
The MOHW further described those AI systems that enhance safety as those that "proactively detect and predict the risk of emergency conditions, such as cardiac arrest, and monitor patient conditions in near real time." An example, the ministry shared, is AI monitoring systems in intensive care units that detect abnormal conditions.
AI systems that improve clinical precision are those used to assist in diagnosis and support the interpretation of challenging images, such as AI-based image analysis software.
Moreover, AI systems that improve operational efficiency are those that automate repetitive administrative tasks such as writing medical documents.
Other AI systems that may be deployed include those that provide live interpretation, consultation, and notifications and alerts.
The MOHW has started public consultations with the 17 regional medical centres to identify their needs. An evaluation committee will be set up to assess business plans and sign off on appropriate support to each hospital.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
According to the MOHW, the investment aims to improve the quality of care and promote innovation in medical service delivery by utilising AI.
The ministry has increased its investments in AI over the years to encourage uptake as it builds towards a public medical AI ecosystem. Recently, it launched a funding programme supporting six major universities to offer specialised courses on AI in healthcare, aiming to produce over 1,000 professionals in medical AI over the next five years.
The MOHW also started a voucher programme – taking after a programme started by the Seoul government in April last year – to support startups in developing AI-driven medical solutions. It aims to provide vouchers to 40 startups from an initial eight by the end of the year.
An MOHW committee deliberating on policies concerning health and medical data is currently supporting at least 20 projects that seek to verify medical AI solutions prior to clinical adoption.
The ministry is also working on a $16 million project that is developing medical multimodal models for Korean healthcare.
