"No One Left Untreated Due to Lack of Money"… Concrete Plans for Medical Contributions from 'Lee Geonhee Legacy'

the late Lee Kun-hee, Chairman of Samsung

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The family of the late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who showed a special interest in the medical field during his lifetime, has decided to donate 1 trillion won for medical contributions in honor of his wishes. Following this, the subsequent procedures to specify the use of this fund are also gaining momentum.

According to business and medical circles on the 2nd, the National Medical Center recently reached a consensus to form a 'Special Committee for Fund Management' to manage the donation from Chairman Lee's family, aimed at building a world-class central infectious disease hospital.

700 Billion Won Invested in Infectious Disease Prevention and Response

Earlier, Chairman Lee's family ordered the strengthening of national infectious disease response capabilities and deposited 700 billion won to the National Medical Center on the 28th of last month. On the same day, the National Medical Center urgently convened the 'Donation Management Committee' and proposed to the board of directors the formation of a special committee to operate the fund together with related organizations such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Accordingly, all authority regarding the operation of Samsung's donation will be transferred to the newly formed special committee after approval by the board of directors, and the fund is expected to be managed transparently and efficiently. The National Medical Center plans to hold a board meeting soon to establish the special committee and will also appoint internal and external members including participants from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Korean government and its people have united to minimize damage compared to other countries. However, despite experiencing infectious disease crises such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015, and the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the infrastructure to respond remains inadequate.

Chairman Lee's family recognized these difficulties and agreed that building a system to overcome infectious diseases is a way to follow the late chairman's will. Of the 700 billion won donation, 500 billion won will be used to build a central infectious disease specialized hospital. The plan is to construct a world-class 150-bed hospital equipped with advanced facilities such as general, intensive care, and high-level negative pressure beds, negative pressure operating rooms, and biosafety laboratories.

Jung Ki-hyun, director of the National Medical Center, said, "We express our gratitude for the donor's goodwill during the national health crisis caused by COVID-19," and added, "The National Medical Center will strive to build the world's best central infectious disease hospital in accordance with the donor's wishes." The remaining 200 billion won will support the establishment of a state-of-the-art research institute and necessary facilities under the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, affiliated with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. This will be used for various research supports including the development of vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases.

300 Billion Won for Pediatric Cancer and Rare Disease Treatment and Research

Chairman Lee's family also donated 300 billion won to Seoul National University Children's Hospital. This is to honor the late chairman's lifelong wish that socially vulnerable children should never be denied treatment due to lack of funds. The hospital announced that the donation will support diagnosis, treatment, and clinical research for pediatric cancer and rare disease patients in Korea until 2030. The main projects include ▲ 150 billion won for pediatric cancer patient diagnosis and treatment support ▲ 60 billion won for rare disease diagnosis and treatment support ▲ 90 billion won for pediatric cancer and rare disease research and infrastructure development support.

First, the pediatric cancer patient diagnosis and treatment support fund will be used to cover expensive genomic testing fees and immune/targeted anticancer drug treatments that are not covered by health insurance. The rare disease diagnosis and treatment support fund will be used for rare and emergency genomic testing, expensive gene therapies, and new drug treatments. It is known that over 100,000 children with rare diseases have spent years moving from hospital to hospital nationwide without receiving accurate diagnoses, incurring enormous medical expenses.

The pediatric cancer and rare disease research and infrastructure support fund will be used for joint clinical research on diagnosis, treatment technologies, and drug development. It will also be utilized to build databases and systems linking medical information on pediatric cancer and rare diseases across children's hospitals nationwide, as well as to establish diagnostic infrastructure.

Seoul National University Children's Hospital will launch the 'Pediatric Cancer and Rare Disease Overcoming Project Group' involving children's medical institutions and medical staff nationwide to smoothly carry out these projects. The project group will be a joint promotion system allowing participation from children's hospitals and related medical institutions across the country, with individual departments under the committee to handle the practical implementation of pediatric cancer, rare disease, and joint research projects.

Kim Han-seok, director of Seoul National University Children's Hospital (also serving as project group leader), expressed gratitude, saying, "Since pediatric diseases are diverse but patient numbers are small, a system where children's medical institutions nationwide cooperate is necessary to improve medical quality," and added, "We expect the donation from the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee's family to serve as a catalyst for establishing such a system."

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