Seoul's Major Big 5 Hospitals Record a Deficit of 200 Billion Won

The 'Big 5' university hospitals, regarded as the top medical institutions in Seoul, revealed that they recorded a deficit of 200 billion won over the course of 2023.

In particular, excluding funeral homes, parking lots, and ancillary businesses, the pure medical sector incurred a deficit of over 500 billion won.

According to data received on the 26th from the Ministry of Health and Welfare by Han Ji-a, a member of the National Assembly, the Big 5 hospitals in Seoul—Seoul National University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Severance Hospital, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and Asan Medical Center—have recorded a total deficit of 226.6 billion won in 2023.

In comparison to the 55.5 billion won profit from the previous year, this represents a sharp deterioration in management.

When looking solely at the medical sector, the deficit exceeded 500 billion won, indicating a serious issue even for university hospitals.

Looking at the deficit situation by hospital, Seoul National University Hospital recorded the largest deficit at 110.6 billion won.

This was followed by Samsung Medical Center with a deficit of 52.5 billion won, Severance Hospital with 44.7 billion won, and Seoul St. Mary's Hospital with a deficit of 19.3 billion won. Among the five hospitals, only Asan Medical Center achieved a profit of 5 billion won.

Excluding ancillary facilities such as funeral homes and parking lots, the pure medical sector incurred a deficit of 568.5 billion won.

This includes 217.8 billion won from Seoul National University Hospital, 149.4 billion won from Samsung Medical Center, 88.9 billion won from Severance Hospital, 56.4 billion won from Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, and 56.0 billion won from Asan Medical Center.

Not only the Seoul Big 5 hospitals but also national university hospitals are experiencing similar financial difficulties. The 17 national university hospitals, including Seoul National University Hospital, recorded a total deficit of 558.6 billion won last year.

Among the 17 hospitals, only Bundang Seoul National University Hospital (1.7 billion won) and Chungnam National University Hospital (5.3 billion won) achieved a profit. A major reason for this large-scale deficit has been identified as a decrease in hospital admissions and surgeries due to the departure of residents last year.

However, recent observations suggest that the hospital operations are being somewhat normalized by replacing the vacant resident positions with medical support (PA) nurses.

Image source: Reference photos for understanding the article / News1, reference photos for understanding the article / gettyimagesbank