The Ministry of Health and Welfare extends the expiration date of the report to the State Affairs Commission Considering the operation cycle and health variables, the improvement of infertility psychology centers nationwide is close to 130,000 applicants for male and female procedures
The Ministry of Health and Welfare is pushing to improve the system so that infertile couples can receive procedures more conveniently.
According to related ministries and the National Planning Committee on the 13th, the Ministry of Health and Welfare reported to the National Planning Committee that it will increase the validity period of the notification of the decision to support infertile couples from three months to six months. It also plans to expand psychological counseling centers for infertile couples nationwide to take care of mental health.
The application decision notice is a document that applicants for the procedure cost support project for infertile couples apply to the public health center and receive. In order for infertile couples to receive support according to the project, the procedure must begin within three months of receiving the decision notice. After this period, the notice must be issued again. However, infertility procedures are performed every month, and procedures are often skipped depending on health conditions, so there were many complaints among prospective parents.In particular, it takes three to five days to issue a notice, and some pointed out that it is inconvenient because it cannot be scheduled without the documents. Accordingly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare decided to ease the inconvenience of infertile couples by promoting system improvement.
The background of the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s support for infertile couples is that lifestyle habits have changed and the age of childbirth has risen. According to the Health Insurance Corporation, the number of applicants for infertility treatment in 2023 was 75,075 women and 61,830 men, an increase of 13% and 9% respectively compared to 2019.
Analysts say that the support measures for infertile couples are in line with the results of the recent analysis of the low birth rate policy of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. According to a report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in May, researchers including the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Hanyang University Industry-Academic Cooperation Group analyzed, “In reality, policies or attempts to advance the marriage age and the birth age are bound to become powerless or meaningless.” This is because late marriage and childbirth are now becoming a new normal population phenomenon rather than an unusual phenomenon as socioeconomic phenomena and young people’s consciousness change.
The researchers continued, “Now is the time to urgently strengthen policies to support reproductive health maintenance in preparation for a prolonged unmarried period,” adding, “As a result, we should focus on strengthening technical, cost and emotional support to maintain reproductive health before and after marriage, preventing or treating infertility, and expanding related infrastructure.”
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