South Gyeongsang’s cancer surgery self-sufficiency rate was 44.6% from 2021 to 2025, compared with 93.4% in Seoul, according to figures submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and National Health Insurance Service. Changwon City Council member Kim Dong-yeop said the gap is sending patients to the capital region and called for a large cancer hospital in Changwon that links diagnosis, surgery, treatment, recovery and rehabilitation.
The proposal also includes specialist recruitment and a referral network among regional university hospitals, general hospitals and clinics, with a goal of lifting treatment within the province to 60% to 70%. The figures also show that 28.4% of non-metropolitan liver cancer patients waited at least a month for surgery in 2025, versus 19.4% in the capital region, underscoring the access and delay pressures behind the proposal.