OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the burden of SSI (surgery site infection) in common surgeries in Korea. The considered surgeries: gastrointestinal surgery, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) and orthopaedic surgery represent the procedures with high, medium and low SSI risk. METHODS: The analysis was conducted from the hospital perspective. Costs were evaluated on the basis of Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA) data. Risk of SSI and the influence of SSI on hospital length of stay (LOS) were calculated according to studies from a review Lee 2011. The influence of prolonged hospitalization on expenses was obtained with an assumption that the costs are evenly distributed during the stay. RESULTS: The risk of SSI depends on surgery type. Among the procedures considered, the highest SSI rate – 5% was related to gastric surgery and the lowest SSI rate – 1% to knee replacement. LOS in case of SSI is prolonged for about 60%. According to current data on hospitalization cost from HIRA, the influence of SSI on providers’ budget could be substantial. The estimated increase in hospitalization cost induced by SSI is about 3.9 million won (2.700 €) for gastrointestinal surgery, 4.3 million won (3.000 €) for orthopaedic surgery and even 10.0 million won (6.900 €) for CABG. Halving the SSI rate would reduce the mean expenses for about 1%. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of SSI in Korea is high as SSI implies the significant prolongation of LOS. The detailed analysis should then be carried out in order to define the possible ways of minimizing the infection risk. The possible range of relatively non expensive risk-reducing interventions which may imply the substantial reduction of SSI rate include the use of antimicrobial sutures, antibiotics prophylactics, a safety checklist and other. The increased cost of SSI prevention would be probably broadly offset by the decreased costs of hospital stay.