The government plans to build 18 “smart hospitals” by 2025 as part of efforts to effectively cope with infectious disease and boost the national economy. 

Under the plan, revealed on Tuesday as part of the 160 trillion won Korean New Deal, the government will inject 200 billion to develop digital-based medical infrastructure, including digitalized hospitals operable on 5G mobile networks and the Internet of Things(IoT). 

Three such hospitals will be built with funds from the third supplementary budget of this year while three others will be set up by 2022 and nine more by 2025. 

Smart hospitals will enable doctors to remotely review in real time the information of patients being treated in isolation or in intensive care facilities. 

The government also expands the number of respiratory disease-focused medical clinics equipped with negative pressure rooms with a thousand such facilities envisioned by next year.