Jeonnam Governor Kim Young-rok Requests Establishment of National Medical School in Jeonnam Region

Meeting with Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Kim Young-rok, Governor of Jeollanam-do, has requested the Ministry of Health and Welfare to establish a national medical school in the Jeonnam region.

According to Jeonnam Province on the 15th, Governor Kim held a meeting with Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, at the government Sejong Complex and explained two key issues of Jeollanam-do: the "Establishment of Jeollanam-do National Medical School" and the "Designation of a National Advanced Medical Complex," requesting cooperation and support.

Governor Kim said, "Jeonnam has many medically vulnerable areas such as islands and is the first region in the country to enter a super-aged society, resulting in high medical demand. However, it is the only province nationwide without a medical school or a tertiary general hospital to train medical personnel, making it difficult for local residents to receive proper medical services. Even during the recent COVID-19 situation, there were no facilities to treat severe patients, so 16 out of 23 severe patients had to be treated in other cities and provinces."

He continued, "There are no specialists in cerebrovascular diseases or pediatric surgery in the entire province, and there are 164 islands without any doctors," adding, "Considering the poor medical conditions in Jeonnam and the passion and desire of 2 million residents that have continued for over 30 years, please confirm the establishment of a national medical school in Jeollanam-do, the only province nationwide without a medical school."

He also said, "Jeonnam is rich in natural substances and healing resources and is the optimal place for advanced new drug development with full-cycle support infrastructure including research and development, preclinical, clinical, production, and approval centered on the Hwasun Vaccine Industrial Complex," and requested, "It is necessary to designate the entire Jeonnam area, including the Hwasun Vaccine Industrial Complex, as a National Advanced Medical Complex to establish an early national control tower to proactively respond to infectious disease vaccines and intractable diseases such as cancer and dementia."

The province has been conducting its own research since February this year to be designated as an advanced medical complex and plans to officially submit the designation application to the Ministry of Health and Welfare in December according to the related schedule.

In response, Park Neung-hoo, Minister of Health and Welfare, said, "Since this is an issue of great public interest, we will work to develop a good plan going forward."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.