Has Disabled Access in Healthcare Institutions been Increased? - A Case Study of Jongno-gu in Seoul, Korea -

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the improvement of disabled access to healthcare institution located in Jongno-gu, Seoul in 2011 compared to 2003 since disabled access has been mandatory in healthcare institutions located in new buildings by the amended law in 2004. We had investigated 10 assessment items for disabled access in 166 healthcare institutions located in Jongno-gu, Seoul and the results were compared with those of 2003 survey. On average, 74.1% of the healthcare organizations has equipped with items for disabled access. However the adequately equipped rate for those items was only 39.2%. Compared with the results of 2003 survey, these rates showed a little increase by 4.1% and 8.0%, respectively. There were only 10 healthcare institutions located in new buildings which were constructed after July, 2005. Their average equipped rate(84.4%) and adequately equipped rate(46.8%) were higher than those of the other organizations because the Korean government ruled that healthcare institutions in new buildings must have facilities for the disabled. In conclusion, we confirmed that the accessibility of the disabled to healthcare institution slightly increased. In particular, the healthcare institutions in newly constructed building showed the significant increase of accessibility of the disabled. However, it is founded that disabled access is still not enough for the disabled.