Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital added 161 beds to its 1,159 sickbeds in the main building on Wednesday.

A total of 44 beds and 16 armchairs will be located at the cancer center for use by chemotherapy outpatients.

About 87 percent, or 125, of the beds will be allocated to wards that have five beds covered by the national health insurance.

“The increase of sickbeds will enable more patients to receive intensive treatments without waiting for too long,” the hospital president Hong Young-sun said in a press release.

(baejisook@heraldcorp.com)