Gyeonggi Province Offers Free Medical Check-ups for Immigrant Women in Multicultural Families

○ Date: Dec. 1, 2009

○ Offered by: Health Policy Division (031-249-4380)

Gyeonggi Province has offered another round of free medical check-ups to 3,373 foreign women from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and other countries who settled in the province following international marriages with Korean men in the year of 2009. Following the examinations, 970 women were determined as having illnesses requiring further medical attention, and among these, the most frequent illness was gastrointestinal disorder.

Of the foreign women with illnesses, 287 were in their twenties, 306 were in their thirties, and 238 were in their forties, meaning that approximately 86% of those with illnesses were in the 20s-40s age range. Among the 1,457 cases of women with multiple illnesses, the percentage rates were as follows: gastrointestinal disorders 10.8%, urinary disorders 5.9%, hepatitis B 5.6%, and thyroid gland malfunction 5.6%.

Although married, foreign women cannot benefit from medical care services on the instant, as it is impossible for them to acquire Korean nationality within such a short period of time. Gyeonggi Province is offering basic health check-ups, both to married immigrants who have not yet acquired Korean nationality and to married immigrants who have not subscribed to health insurance. Through this initiative, the provincial government aims to strengthen the ties between family members by helping them to settle down in Korea in peace, safety, and good health, and to ultimately promote their attachment to the province of Gyeonggi-do.

To secure convenience for patients during the check-ups, Gyeonggi Province has planned traveling check-up services, during which the check-up team visits local places in large medical check-up vehicles equipped with GI (Gastrointestinal) Series Scanner, mammography equipment, X-ray machines, ultrasonograph, and more according to the check-up schedule. 21 kinds of check-ups are performed on women who want to undergo the check-ups, including basic vital signs test, blood test, electrocardiogram test, thyroid scan, uterine cancer test, breast cancer test and gastrointestinal scan. According to the results, women with infectious diseases are reported to and supervised by each public health center in charge. Other women with illnesses undergo thorough examinations with the help of specialized medical institutions.

To enhance this program, the number of check-ups is to be extended to 3,500 next year, and after assessing the results, inoculations against preventable infectious diseases will be given.




the source-http://english.gg.go.kr