South Korea’s health ministry pushes AI expansion across public hospital network

South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) has moved to accelerate the adoption of artificial intelligence across its public healthcare system, convening a high-level policy meeting with the heads of major national university hospitals on 17 March.

Health and Welfare Minister Jeong Eun Kyeong chaired the session at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, bringing together leadership from Seoul National University Hospital, Kyungpook National University Hospital, and Jeonbuk National University Hospital, among others.

The meeting centred on what the ministry terms “AI transformation” — a structural rethinking of healthcare delivery built around artificial intelligence, rather than the incremental adoption of individual tools. A central policy objective is reducing longstanding disparities in healthcare access between the Seoul metropolitan area and regional provinces, with AI positioned as a mechanism for enabling locally self-sufficient care.

Hospital representatives briefed the minister on their current AI implementation efforts, drawing on digital infrastructure each institution has developed independently. Participants identified data standardisation and cross-hospital governance as priorities, and called on the government to fund computing infrastructure — specifically GPU hardware — to support continued innovation.

The ministry confirmed it had established a Basic Healthcare AI Task Force in February, led by the Vice Minister, which is currently drafting a national Basic Healthcare AI Strategy for release in the first half of 2025. A headline proposal within the strategy is a “public healthcare AI highway” — a framework designed to improve coordination between primary, secondary, and tertiary care institutions and ensure consistent service access nationwide.

Minister Jeong said the ministry regards AI as central to addressing both regional inequality in care provision and broader gaps in essential public health services. She indicated that outcomes from the meeting — including proposals on regulatory reform, financial support, and inter-hospital cooperation frameworks — would be incorporated into the forthcoming strategy.