Gov't to rate postpartum care centers starting next year in push for transparency
Published: 03 Dec. 2025, 17:51
![The photo shows a newborn care room at a public postpartum care center in Seoul in December 2023. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/12/03/6dd47250-eab7-4244-817f-ab1de6a5b30b.jpg)
The photo shows a newborn care room at a public postpartum care center in Seoul in December 2023. [YONHAP]
The government will begin rating postpartum care centers in Korea on a scale from A to C starting in 2026, addressing longstanding criticism over the lack of transparency in how the facilities are run.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on Wednesday it would enact and promulgate a new regulation titled “Notification on the Evaluation of Postpartum Care Centers” to establish evaluation criteria and procedures.
Postpartum care centers charge widely varying fees, but consumers have had little access to objective information about the quality of their services, sanitation or safety. Incidents that have heightened public concern continue to occur, including one in Cheongju, North Chungcheong, where two newborns were recently switched.
The new regulation lays out the structure of the Postpartum Care Center Evaluation Committee, which will oversee assessments and details the criteria for evaluation.
An institution commissioned by the Health Ministry will establish and operate the committee, which will include five to seven members, including a chair. Experts in infection prevention, public health and postpartum care services will make up the committee.
The evaluation will cover six areas: staff adequacy and qualifications, facility suitability and safety, operations and client management, infection prevention, maternal care and parenting education and newborn care services. In total, 83 criteria will be used to determine scores.
Facilities will be rated as A if they broadly meet the evaluation standards, B if they meet the major criteria but need improvement in some areas and C if they fail to sufficiently meet the standards.
The Health Ministry plans to draft an annual evaluation plan, notify operators across Korea and accept applications for assessment. The results will remain valid for three years. The first evaluation results are expected in the fourth quarter of 2026.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY NAM SOO-HYOUN [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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