Seoul Asan Medical Center, located in the Pungnap-dong area of Songpa district and one of the largest hospitals in Korea, will begin expansion work. The parking building will be vertically expanded, and the central parking lot adjacent to the park in front of the hospital will be removed to establish a state-of-the-art cancer center.
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Songpa district on the 11th, Songpa district approved the implementation plan for urban planning facilities (comprehensive medical facilities) for Asan Medical Center on the 5th, making it public. This follows the request by the Asan Social Welfare Foundation to establish an expansion project of Seoul Asan Medical Center at 88, Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa district (Pungnap-dong 388-1). Seoul Asan Medical Center is the largest general hospital in Korea with a total land area of 138,800 square meters (approximately 42,000 pyeong), a building area of 42,930 square meters (approximately 12,990 pyeong), and a total floor area of 454,790 square meters (approximately 137,570 pyeong). As of last year, it treated 11,402 outpatients (on average per day), 624,447 inpatients, and 74,598 emergency patients.
The location where the foundation intends to conduct expansion work is the building currently used as the parking facility for the hospital. It is adjacent to the hospital's east and west wings, new building, dormitory, convergence research building, and education research building. It is currently utilized as a four-story building. The 1st and 2nd floors serve as patient parking, while the 3rd and 4th floors are used as staff parking. The foundation plans to vertically expand this building to six stories. In addition to the parking building, Asan Medical Center utilizes other parking spaces, including the rear parking lot (capacity for 99 vehicles), central parking lot (391 vehicles), and underground parking lot in the new building (2,052 vehicles).
A Songpa district official noted, "We are planning construction to increase the parking building due to rising parking demands," adding, "Construction will commence after obtaining the district's building permit." Once completed, it is expected to accommodate an additional 518 vehicles. The project's duration extends from the date of the district's building permit until January 31, 2028.
The reason Asan Medical Center is undertaking the expansion of the parking building is to convert the site of the central parking lot, currently near the central park of the hospital, into treatment facilities. The hospital plans to establish a particle therapy center with a floor area of 40,880 square meters (approximately 12,388 pyeong) using the central parking lot site. Particle therapy is an advanced treatment method that uses heavy particles (such as carbon ions) to precisely eliminate cancer cells while protecting normal tissue as much as possible by concentrating on destroying just the cancerous tissue. Asan Medical Center has contracted with the Toshiba ESE-DK Medical Solutions consortium from Japan to introduce two rotating particle therapy machines and one fixed particle therapy machine into the treatment center.
However, the scale of the particle therapy center has not yet been determined. An official from Asan Medical Center stated, "We have not yet applied for the necessary approvals from the local government," adding, "We have not confirmed the start of construction, building scale, or construction company."